8th Grade Informational

Anne Frank: A Girl to Remember On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which started World War 2. Adolf Hitler was the dictatorial leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party) which commanded German forces throughout the war. Hitler had a hatred towards Jews, which drove him to place innocent Jews in concentration camps, where they were forced to work and were killed brutally. and her family had lived in Germany, but when Hitler came into power, they moved to the . However, When Anne was thirteen, Hitler put his anti-Jewish law into effect, which forced the Franks and thousands of other Jews to go into hiding in order to survive. Anne, her family, and the Can Daans took shelter above a spice making warehouse in a loft hidden behind a bookshelf. From 1942 to 1944, Anne recorded her thoughts and events that happened in the loft in her diary. The Franks and Van Daans could not go outside, could not move or run water during the day, and had to be quiet. Anne would read a great deal of books and would study a wide variety of subjects in order to pass time. , Bep Voskuijl, Jo Kleiman, Viclor Kugler, and were the only people that knew of the hideout and would bring them food, comfort, clothing, news of the war, and would make sure they were safe and that no one knew of their presence. In November 1942, Albert Dussel moved into the loft and Anne had to share her room with him. In her Diary, Anne described what her life in hiding was like, about what great discomfort the adults caused her sometimes and she wrote her opinions and thoughts about life. Anna wrote about how she wished she could change her behavior and how she wanted to be writer and “go on living even after she is dead.” The people in the loft faced many dangers and fears and had to deal with disagreements. They would hear German planes fly over their heads and Nazi cars pass by on the street below them. They were forced to listen to the bombs as they threaten to land on their heads and had to be frozen stiff as a thief would break into the warehouse below them. There there many moments when they were sure they had been found and that it was all over for them. However, they remained happy and joyful and they lived in hope that the war would be over soon. They dreamed of being able to go outside and be free again. Anne would speak her mind in her diary and would recall of her love for Peter, the Van Daans’ son and how she felt herself growing up and changing. She wrote down conversions, arguments, news of the war and how she longed for freedom and everything she planned to do after the war. Sadly, on August 1st, 1944, Anne wrote her very last diary entry and on August 14th, The Gestapo discovered the loft and the Franks, Van Daans, Mr. Dussel, Mr. Koophuis and Mr. Kraler were taken to the Gestapo headquarters in . After a few weeks, Mr. Koophuis was released for medical care. Mr. Kraler spent eight months in a forced labor camp while Franks, Van Daans and Mr.Dussel were sent to a camp called Westerlork. In May 1945, the war ended. Mr. Dussel and Mr. Van Daan had been killed by being gassed, Peter had died from exhaustion, Mrs. Van Daan’s cause of death is unknown, Mrs. Frank had passed away due to starvation, while Anne and her sister Margot had died from Typhus. Mr. was the only one of the eight Jews that had survived Hitler’s hatred and had lived to see the end of the war. Several months after the war had ended, Mr. Frank returned to Amsterdam and went back to what is now known as the “Secret Annexe” , where Miep and Eli gave him Anne’s Diary. In 1947, Mr. Frank had Anne’s Diary Published. In 1950m it was published in Germany. Throughout the years, Anne’s Diary was published in many countries and today it is read and loved by many. Anne’s story had been turned into movies and plays and is a treasure to enjoy and cherish. Anne’s courage inspires us to have hope and faith despite the tragedies in life, and her cheerfulness teaches us to see beauty in all things. Anne’s wish to go on living even after she is dead has come true. Her spirit is bound to the pages of her diary, and it shall continue to encourage us. Her short but remarkable life has left behind legacy, which reminds us all of the joys and love in life. Anne Frank will always be a girl to remember.