Anne Frank

(1929-1945)

The Frank Family• an upper-class, Jewish family• father, Otto, owned a jam- and spice-making business called Opekta

• older sister, Margot – “the pretty one”• 1933 – Hitler comes to power, and the Franks move to Amsterdam, Holland. (Anne is four years old.)

• 1940 – Holland becomes occupied by Nazi Germany. (Anne is 11 years old.)

• 1941 – Otto tries to obtain visas to the U.S. but is denied.

The Secret Attic• 1942 – the Franks go into hiding after Margot gets a letter that she is being “relocated”.

• The attic is in the back of Otto’s business on the third and fourth floors.

Others’ Involvement• Four Opekta employees, Miep Gies (Otto’s secretary), Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, and Elisabeth Voskuijl, know about the hiding.

• After hours, they bring food, books, and news of the war.

The Way in•A swinging bookcase is built by Elisabeth’s father to hide the staircase that leads to the attic.

•Hermann and Auguste Van Pels (rendered as Hermann and Petronela Van Daan in Anne’s diary) also go into hiding with their 15 year old son, Peter.

•Later a Jewish dentist named Fritz Pfeffer (rendered as Albert Dussel) joins them.

• By day they have to stay quiet so that the workers on the ground floor won’t hear them. They walk with their shoes off, can’t speak above a whisper, and can’t use the restroom.

• By night they try to live life as normal. Margot, Anne, and Peter are home-schooled by Otto, they listen to the radio, and they play games.

• They stay in hiding for 2 years (25 months).

• August 4, 1944 - Nazis raid the attic after an anonymous phone call; all eight are sent to concentration camps.

• Otto Frank is the only one to survive.

Anne• born in Germany the year of the stock market crash

• very talkative in school; not afraid to speak her mind; dramatic; boy-crazy

• was “daddy’s girl”

• thought her mother didn’t understand her

Anne’s Timeline• 1940 - had to change schools when Hitler segregates the school system in Holland

• 1942-1944 – years of hiding

• March 1945 – Anne dies at the age of 15 of typhoid fever at Bergen-Belsen two months before the war is over

The Diary• a gift for Anne’s 13th birthday

• a private journal she nicknamed “Kitty”

• She talks about the struggles of being a teenager, her problems with her parents, her crush on Peter Van Pels, daily life in the attic, her thoughts on prejudice, and the evils of humanity.

• title - Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

• actually contains several hand-written volumes

• has been translated into over 55 languages and made into an award-winning play

• is now kept in a glass safe at the Anne Frank House

After the War• After the raid, Miep and Elisabeth are cleaning the attic where they find the diary. Miep gives it to Otto after the war.

• 1947 – Otto has his daughter’s diary published

• 1955 – the play is first performed on stage

• 1960 – the attic is turned into a museum called the Anne Frank House

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Anne Frank