Diary

1. No one knows the day of Anne
Frank’s death. However, it is known
that she died in March 1945. There-
fore, March 2020 is the 75th an-
niversary of her death. Known for
her diary, Anne Frank is one of the
Holocaust’s best-known victims.
The diary was published as a book
two years after she died.
The Holocaust is the name given
to the murder of millions of peo-
ple by the Nazis during the Second
World War (1939 – 1945). Around
six million Jews and two million
Roma, or Gypsies, were killed.
The Holocaust is also known as the
“Shoah”. In the Hebrew language,
this means the “catastrophe”.
The Frank family lived in the
city of Frankfurt, in Germany. The
Nazi’s came to power in 1933. Like
many other German Jewish fami-
lies, the Franks decided to leave the
country. They moved to Amster-
dam, the capital of the Netherlands.
Then, Anne was four years old. She
had an elder sister called Margot.
Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was ap-
pointed as the boss of a company. It
produced ingredients that were used
for making jam.
Anne Frank in 1940
The eight people stayed in the small
secret rooms for over two years.
Only a few people who used the
warehouse knew that they were
there. Miep Gies, a Dutch woman
who worked for Anne’s father,
agreed to help. She and her
husband took them food. They also
passed on news about what was
happening in the war. While in hid-
ing, Anne began a diary. She wrote
in the Dutch language.
The Franks were eventually dis-
covered in 1944. Nobody knows
who told local officials about their
hiding place. After they were dis-
covered, the eight people were sent
to the infamous Auschwitz con-
centration camp, in Poland. This
was where hundreds of thousands
Anne and her sister were among the
thousands of camp inmates who
died during the last weeks of the
war. They were buried in mass
graves.
Margot and Anne Frank memorial at Bergen-
Belsen in Germany (Arne List)
she gave the diary to him. He typed
out the words and gave manuscripts
to several relatives. In 1947, the
text was made into a book. Since
then, tens of thousands of copies
have been sold. The Diary of Anne
Frank has been translated into
over 70 languages. It has also been
made into a play and a movie. The
secret rooms, where the eight peo-
ple hid, are now part of a museum.
This is where Anne’s original diary
is displayed.
Soon after the war began, Ger-
man forces took control of the
Netherlands. As in other occupied
countries, Nazi officials began to
round up Jewish people. They were
sent to concentration camps in Ger-
many and Poland. Anne’s father,
Otto, created a secret hiding place
for his family. It was within the
warehouse where he worked. The
entrance to the secret rooms was
behind a large bookcase.
The Frank family moved into
the hidden rooms in 1942. Later,
Anne’s father let four other Jewish
people join them.
of people were murdered. At Aus-
chwitz, the men and women were
separated. Later, towards the end
of the war, Anne and her sister
were moved to another camp.
Called Bergen-Belsen, it was in
northern Germany.
Both sisters died at Bergen-Belsen.
A disease called typhus probably
caused their deaths. Anne was 15
years old and her sister was 19.
About six weeks later, British
soldiers liberated the camp.
Of the eight people who hid in
the Amsterdam warehouse,
Anne’s father was the only survi-
vor. At the end of the war, he went
back to Amsterdam. Anne’s father
knew that his wife died. Yet he
hoped that his two daughters were
still alive. Later, he received a let-
ter. It told him that both died at
Bergen-Belsen.
After the family was taken
away, Miep Gies found Anne’s di-
ary in the secret rooms. She kept
it. When Anne’s father returned,
After the story of Anne Frank be
in spite of every-
thing, I still believe that people are
really good at he
-
came well known, a memorial to her
and her sister was set up at Bergen-
Belsen. In her diary, Anne wrote
about the other people in the secret
rooms, how they passed the time
and what she wanted to do after the
war. It also contains her innermost
thoughts. One of the most famous
lines she wrote is: “
art”.
ANN FRANK ANNIVERSARY