Anne Frank

Anne Frank
May 1942 passport photograph of Anne Frank.
Born	Annelies or Anneliese Marie Frank (1929-06-12)12 June 1929 Frankfurt am Main, Weimar Germany
Died	c. February or March 1945 (aged 15) Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Nazi Germany
Resting place	Early 1945 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Nazi Germany
Nationality	German from 1929 until 1935 Stateless from 1935 until 1945
Period	1942 – 1944
Notable works	The Diary of a Young Girl (1947)
Relatives	Margot Frank (sister)
Signature

Annelies or Anneliese Marie Frank also known as Anne Frank (12 June 1929 – c. February or March 1945) was a German-born Dutch Jewish girl who kept a diary in which she documented her life in hiding from the Nazis during World War II.^[1] Her diary is seen as a classic in war literature and history, and is one of the most widely read books today. Several plays and movies have been made on it.

Anne was born in the city Frankfurt am Main in the Free State of Prussia in Weimar Germany. She lived most of her life in or around Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. She was officially seen as a German until 1935. This was when she lost her nationality because of the anti-Semitic rules of Nazi Germany. She became famous around the world after her death when her diary was printed. In it she described her experiences hiding during the Nazi German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Frank family moved from Germany to Holland's capital, Amsterdam in 1933. This was the same year that the Nazis grew powerful in Germany. By the beginning of 1940, because of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the Frank family was trapped in Amsterdam. Persecution of Jewish people increased in July 1942, and the family decided to hide. They hid in some secret rooms of her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, they were betrayed and taken to concentration camps. Anne and her sister, Margot, were later taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. There, they both died from typhus in 1945.^[2]

Otto Frank was the only person in his family who survived. He went back to Amsterdam after the war and found that Anne's diary had been saved. He helped print a version of it in 1947. It was translated from Dutch and first printed in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has been translated into many languages. The diary had been given to Anne on her 13th birthday. In it she wrote of her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. She was the second daughter of Otto Frank (1889–1980), a German businessman,^[1] and Edith Frank-Holländer (1900 – 45). Margot Frank (1926–45) was her older sister.^[3] The Franks were Jews, and they lived with many Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. Anne and Margot grew up with Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish friends. The Frank family did not follow all the customs of Judaism.^[4] Edith Frank was very religious, though her husband was more interested in studying. He had a large library, and both parents encouraged the children to read.^[5]

On 13 March 1933, elections were held in Frankfurt, and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won. Acts of Antisemitism began almost immediately. The Franks were afraid of what might happen to them if they stayed in Germany. Therefore, later that year, Edith and the children went to Aachen. They stayed there with Edith's mother, Rosr.a Hollände Otto remained in Frankfurt, but after getting an offer to start a company in Amsterdam, he moved there to begin the business and to find a place to live with his family.^[6] The Franks were included in the 300,000 Jews who ran away from Germany between 1933 and 1939.^[7]

While in hiding, she would often imagine herself gracefully gliding across the floors of the Secret Annex, finding solace and joy in the imaginary freedom of movement. Roller skating became a symbol of resilience and optimism in Anne's diary, reminding her of the simple pleasures of life outside the Annex. Otto Frank began working at the Opekta Works. Opteka was a company that sold pectin. Otto Frank found an apartment on the Merwedeplein (Merwede Square) in Amsterdam. By February 1934, Edith and the children had arrived in Amsterdam, and Anne and Margot began going to school. Margot went to public school and Anne went to a Montessori school. Margot enjoyed math, while Anne preferred reading and writing. Her friend Hanneli Goslar later remembered that from when she was young, Anne often wrote, though she tried to hide what she wrote and did not like talking about it. Margot and Anne had very different personalities. Margot was polite, quiet, and thoughtful,^[8] while Anne was brave, energetic, and friendly.^[9]

In 1938, Otto Frank started a second company, Pectacon. Pectacon sold herbs, salts and mixed spices that were used to make sausages.^[10][11] Hermann van Pels worked at Pectacon as a helper about spices. He was a Jewish butcher.^[11] In 1939, Edith's mother came to live with the Franks. She stayed with them until she died in January 1942.^[12]

In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands. The government began to hurt Jews by making rules and laws about their freedom. The Frank sisters were both studying well and had many friends. But a new law that Jewish children could only go to a Jewish school made them move to a Jewish school.^[12] The companies that Otto Frank worked at still gave him some money, but they became poorer. It was not enough to support their family.^[13]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Encyclopædia Britannica's Reflections on the Holocaust". britannica.com. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
2. ↑ Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed. "New research sheds new light on Anne Frank's last months" Archived 24 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine. AnneFrank.org, 31 March 2015
3. ↑ Müller 1998, preface: Family tree
4. ↑ Van der Rol and Verhoeven, p. 10
5. ↑ Lee 2000, p. 17
6. ↑ Lee 2000, pp. 20–23
7. ↑ Van der Rol and Verhoeven, p. 21
8. ↑ Müller 1998, p. 131
9. ↑ Müller 1998, pp. 129–35
10. ↑ Müller 1998, p. 92
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Lee 2000, p. 40
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1} Müller 1998, pp. 128–130
13. ↑ Müller 1998, pp. 117–118