"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
Imagine.
Moving your family from Germany to Amsterdam in 1934 to try to keep your family safe from the Nazi party. Just because you are Jewish. Applying for a visa to emigrate to the US, but due to the bombing of Rotterdam, the paperwork is never processed. Planning a place to hide if needed. Just because you are Jewish. Then getting trapped in Amsterdam as the Germans occupied The Netherlands.
This is what happened to Anne and the Frank family in 1942.
Booked an introductory program to learn more about Anne Frank, her family and the other families that occupied the Secret Annex as well as the Righteous Among the Nations who took personal risks yet loyally helped the families hide from 1942 to 1944.
"I've found that there is always some beauty left -- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you."
― Anne Frank
Anne was given a red diary on her birthday in 1942. This was a valuable possession that she brought with her when her family went into hiding amidst the Nazi persecution. The family went into hiding in rooms concealed behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father, Otto Frank, worked. Anne documented her everyday life from her family's hiding place in the Amsterdam attic.
"Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery"
― Anne Frank
Imagine living in an attic. One bathroom shared as you go through adolescence. No light for fear of getting caught. Keeping still and quiet for fear of getting caught.
The hiding place is referred to as the Secret Annex. Until the family's arrest by the Gestapo on August 4, 1944, Anne regularly wrote in her diary.
She was in the process of rewriting her diary when the family was caught.
She was sent with her sister Margot on the last train from Amsterdam to the concentration camps. First to Auschwitz and then to Bergen-Belsen where they both died in February or March, 1945.
She was only fifteen.
Heartbreaking.
"I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart."
― Anne Frank
Her father Otto was the only Holocaust survivor in the Frank family. He returned to Amsterdam after the war. His secretaries, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, who had helped the families hide and survive in the Secret Annex had found and saved Anne's diary. At first, he did not want to read his daughter's private thoughts, but eventually he did.
Anne always wanted to be a writer.
"I wish to go on living even after my death."
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl
Moved by his daughter's repeated wishes to be an author, Otto Frank published her diary in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch version and published in English in 1952 as "The Diary of a Young Girl." Since then it has been translated into over 70 languages. It documents the fears, the dreams, the realities of a young girl living in hiding. It has been read by millions.
Such a powerful experience climbing up the narrow stairs to the Secret Annex. It was left as Otto Frank wanted others to see.
So tragic. So sad.
A lot has changed since the first time I visited the Secret Annex, when I was 15 years old. For this most recent visit, I was wisely advised to book tickets which are released six weeks in advance on Tuesdays at 10 AM. By the time I booked, many time slots were already sold out. I highly recommend the introductory tour which gives a lot of insight into the chronology of the Frank family. Photography is not allowed inside the annex. An audio tour is provided via headphones.
Visit to remember Anne Frank and the six million children, men and women who were murdered during the Holocaust just because they were Jewish. Millions of other people were also murdered during World War II.
Tears flowing.
Anne Frank. 1929 -1945.
Never forget how so many lives extinguished. Prematurely. Their hopes and dreams denied. read more