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Who Was Anne Frank?

You may have heard mention of the word Holocaust in your History or English classes. The
Holocaust took place from 1939-1945. It was an attempt by the Nazi party to purify the
human race, by eliminating Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, homosexuals and others they deemed
inferior to their “perfect” Aryan race. The Nazis used Concentration Camps, which were
sometimes used as Death Camps, to exterminate the people they held in the camps. The
saddest fact about the Holocaust was the over one million children under the age of sixteen
died in a Nazi concentration camp. Just a few weeks before World War II was over, Anne
Frank was one of those children to die.

Before the Nazi party began its persecution of the Jews, Anne Frank had a happy life. She
was born in June of 1929. In June of 1942, for her 13th birthday, she was given a simple
present which would go onto impact the lives of millions of people around the world. That
gift was a small red diary that she called Kitty. This diary was to become Anne’s most
treasured possession when she and her family hid from the Nazi’s in a secret annex above
her father’s office building in Amsterdam.

For 25 months, Anne, her sister Margot, her parents, another family, and an elderly Jewish
dentist hid from the Nazis in this tiny annex. They were never permitted to go outside and
their food and supplies were brought to them by Miep Gies and her husband, who did not
believe in the Nazi persecution of the Jews. It was a very difficult life for young Anne and she
used Kitty as an outlet to describe her life in hiding.

After 2 years, Anne and her family were betrayed and arrested by the Nazis. To this day,
nobody is exactly sure who betrayed the Frank family and the other annex residents. Anne,
her mother, and her sister were separated from Otto Frank, Anne’s father. Then, Anne and
Margot were separated from their mother. In March of 1945, Margot Frank died of
starvation in a Concentration Camp. A few days later, at the age of 15, Anne Frank died of
typhus. Of all the people who hid in the Annex, only Otto Frank survived the Holocaust.

Otto Frank returned to the Annex after World War II. It was there that he found Kitty, filled
with Anne’s thoughts and feelings about being a persecuted Jewish girl. Otto Frank had
Anne’s diary published in 1947 and it has remained continuously in print ever since. Today,
the diary has been published in over 55 languages and more than 24 million copies have
been sold around the world. The Diary of Anne Frank tells the story of a brave young woman
who tried to see the good in all people.