Posted on 03/11/2021 by Evolve in Blog
Each month, we are going to be celebrating the stories of inspirational children.
First up, is Anne Frank.
Anne was born in 1929 in Frankfurt to Jewish parents, Otto & Edith. Around that time, Adolf Hitler and his party were gaining more support and had a hatred for Jews. Due to this, Anne and her parents decided to move to Amsterdam.
On 1st September 1939, when Anne was 10 years old Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began. Not long after, on 10th May 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands – five days later the Dutch Army surrended.
Slowly, the Nazis introduced laws which made the lives of Jews more difficult. For instance, Jews could no longer visit parks, cinemas or non-Jewish shops and Anne had to go to a separate Jewish school.
After rumours of a so-called ‘Labour Camp’ the family were suspicious and decided to go into hiding. This was the time which Anne decided to write about the events in the Secret Annex, but also about her feelings and thoughts.
Before she had finished writing, herself and the other people in hiding were discovered and arrested. Despite this, part of Anne’s writing was preserved by two helpers.
Anne was taken to a concentration and extermination camp, she died in February 1945.
Anne’s father was the only one from the Secret Annex to survive the war and he went on to publish her stories. The diary was published in June 1947.
The book was later translated into around 70 languages and adapted for stage and screen. People all over the world were introduced to Annes story and in 1960 the hiding place became a museum: the Anne Frank House.
The Diary of Anne Frank is a literary reminder of the horrors of war and hate through the eyes of a young girl, and has proven to be timeless.
