Written By: Hazel S.
Anne Frank was just a normal 13-year-old girl who got a Diary for her Birthday, but when the Nazis came to Germany and she had to go into hiding, everything changed! Anne and the other 7 Jewish people hiding with her go through many struggles trying to stay secret. Having enough food and staying sane will be some of the biggest hardships along the way.
Anne was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. Anne’s full name is Anneliese Marie Frank. Her mother and father are Edith Frank, originally Edith nee Hollander, and Otto Heinrich Frank. Anne has one sister named Margot Bettie Frank; Anne’s sister was born on February 16, 1926. Even though Anne’s parents are married and have 2 children, it was not love at first site. Edith was born on January 6, 1900, and Otto was born on May 12, 1889. Anne’s mother came from a Jewish family, so when the Nazis came to Germany, Anne and her family were part of the many targeted people that lived in Germany.
Anne and her family moved to Holland thinking it was safe from all the Nazis. But soon after, the Nazis invaded the once safe city. Things kept getting worse, but there are still some moments of happiness. Around this same time Anne had her 13 Birthday. The first Birthday present that Anne opens is a Diary; this diary is a book of comfort, Anne not only loves this Diary, but she thinks of it as a friend. And she calls this Friend Kitty.
But the hardships continued, the Nazis and their leader Hitler were making it almost impossible to live as a Jewish person, now Jewish people could not use the Tram or have cars, a few weeks later, Jews couldn’t use bicycles either. Anne’s mother and father knew that things would only get worse, so they started getting rid of their furniture and clothes and moving them to their secret hiding place, the secret Annex, (the hiding place of Anne Frank).
When Otto moved to Holland he started a Jam company, this is where they are hiding. A bookcase was used as a door, this would protect the people hiding from the Nazis. They had LOTS of food, mostly canned. They had Cabbage, meatloaf, and pickles. The Frank Family and the other residents did not just hide in this building without anyone knowing, the people who worked at the building helped them stay hidden and well fed. These people were: Victor Kugler, Johannes Voskuijl, Miep Gies, Elisabeth Voskuijl, Jan Gies. These people had to be very careful and trust only the people who can BE trusted, usually the people who are caught helping Jews get arrested, or worse killed.
The Annex has 8 people including Anne and her family. When they first started hiding it was just Anne and her family, but a few weeks later the Vann Daan’s came to live with them in the Annex. This was a family of 3, they had one child Peter, Petronella was his mother and Hermann was her husband. It was a few months later before the 8th member of the Annex came to join them, his name is Albert Dussel.
The Annex had 7 rooms, one Bathroom, Margot, Otto, and Edith share a room, Anne and Albert Dussel share a room, the Vann Daan’s share a room, their room is also the Kitchen. Peter has his own room, right below the entrance to the attic, the attic was Peters hiding place, Peter had a cat and all pets had to stay in the attic. The Annex also had rules that you needed to follow, they mainly applied during mealtimes: Alcohol is only for medical use only, Baths: at nighttime or weekends, Pets: only in attic, No German stations aloud at mealtimes, Breakfast: In silence except for weekends, Lunch: In silence except for weekends, Dinner: Depends on the news broadcasts.
Because of the Nazis the 2nd world war started. The NAzis were led by a man named Adolf Hitler. The Nazis together wanted to get rid of Jews from Germany even though they did not take up more than 1% of the Germany’s people. Nazis started burning Synagogues and Jewish owned shops. Nazis also burned all books that were about Jewish culture or that were written by Jews. The Nazis blamed Germanys Economic problems on the treaty of Versailles along with Jews, but mostly people of Jewish culture.
The people in the Annex were not always happy. Anne never really liked her mother even before they started hiding in the Annex. Anne loves her father more than anyone in the Annex. When the bombs came Anne slept with her father because she was scared. Margot was not a very encouraging sister, and Anne was always jealous of her. Although Anne can’t really stand anyone else in the Annex, she absolutely HATES Madame Vann Daan! They never got along and Madame Vann Daan would always judge Anne. Mister Vann Daan never really had much effect on Anne, but all the people in the Annex would judge Anne on how she acted so she really did not like him much. The last person to join the Annex, Albert Dussel, he is a dentist, so he was the one to give the Docter checks when needed, but Anne did not like this so much. In fact, she was quite disgusted by him. Peter on the other hand is a very nice boy, even though he is afraid of his own shadow, Anne finds that she can confide everything in him, they can talk about things that are usually things that you talk about with your older sister or best friend. Anne finds that she has grown to love Peter. Although this is not the first time Anne has had a boyfriend, she has had a string of lovers in her time before the Nazis and the Annex.
But not everything stayed the same the 5 helpers that oversaw keeping the people in the Annex safe are either wounded and, in the hospital, or taking care of the people who are in the hospital. 2 of them are in and out of the Hospital because of stomach issues. One of the helpers was in a car accident and must stay in the office and can’t do anything to help. One must take care of her father in the Hospital. There is only one helper that can still help! A man that works in the warehouse named Mr. Van Maaran gets suspicious and the people who CAN help have to make excuses to keep the people in the Annex safe. Money was one of the things that they could usually say they had, but around this same time the Annex started running out of money to buy things that they needed to survive. This meant that they needed to sell the things that would get money. Not only this but Anne started to feel sick, later after this feeling was still strong, they figured out that Anne was sick with the flu! They tried everything to get her to feel better, but she had to be confined to her room until things blew over, (thankfully they eventually did.) things aren't going any better for the adults, Edith and Madam Vann Daan get into arguments that they usually would have agreed on about Anne. And after months of sharing food in the Annex they start splitting it between families.
For a little bit of time, it looked like things would be getting better. Although there had been many attempts on Adolf Hitlers life this was the one that Anne had talked about in her Dairy. On Friday, July 20, 1944, a 36-year-old man named Col Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg hid a bomb in his Breifcase. The plan was to put 2 bombs in the Breifcase and put them next to Hitler. Things did not go this way. Unfortunately, only 1 of the bombs of the 2 went in the Breifcase and after Stauffenberg left the briefcase was moved away from Hittler therefore did not kill him. After this act was made, every German General was shot by lower ranks because they thought that they had helped kill Hitler. Germans are killing Germans. That is exactly what America and all the other people fighting against them want!
But the happiness did not last. On the morning of August 4, 1944, around 10:00 to 10:30, 5 men step out of a German vehicle 2 wearing uniforms but all fully armed. They had been tipped off by one of the helpers, Miep Gies. The Nazis arrested all 8 of the people in hiding and Victor Kugler and Johannas Kleiman. The Nazis took all the valuables that were left in the Annex to keep.
The Nazis let Kleiman leave due to poor health he died in 1959. Elisabeth died in 1983 of natural causes. Miep Gies died on January 11, 2010, 100 years of age. Victor Kugler died in 1981 of natural causes.
All 8 people in the Annex were put in the concentration camp Bergen Belson, some went to others. Herman was gassed to death shortly before the gas chambers were shut down in October or November. Petronella Did not survive the concentration camps but the date of her death is unknown. Peter was forced to take place in the January 16, 1945, death march, he died on March 5, 1945, 3 days before the Camps were liberated. Albert Dussel died December 20, 1944. Edith died on January 6, 1944, from starvation. In the winter of 1944-45 a Typhus outbreak struck as a result of TERRIBLE Hygiene conditions. This disease killed THOUSANDS of people in the concentration camps. The outbreak took Margot and a few days later, Anne to.
Otto was the only person of the 8 people in the Annex to live. Otto published Annes diary which was a request that she made. He kept the memory of his family alive. Later Otto married Elfriede Markovits Geiringer, who also survived the concentration camps. Otto and his new wife kept the legacy of his daughters and wife alive. He let the world know what happened to all the Jewish people in the world.
Anne Frank was not an enemy of any kind. Her story is very interesting, the acts of prejudice are still happening in the world. Anne is just one example of all the things that are happening Anne’s story deserves to be told, to teach people what and what is still happening today.
Sources
Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. Pantheon, 2018.
In-text Citation:(Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation)
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
History Year by Year: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank
Otto Frank Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Frank
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