Anne Frank was an ordinary German Jewish Girl. As she wrote in her diary, there were lots of Jewish girls suffered from Nazi Holocaust like her so it might not the suffering had made her different and unique. What makes Anne Frank different is her diary which was kept in annex while Anne and her family were hiding. Diary was a 13th birthday present of Anne Frank, she kept a diary from June 12, 1942 to August 1, 1944 until she and her family was captured by German officers.
It was 1942 in Amsterdam. German troops had captured Amsterdam 2 years ago. Several Jewish families who run from Nazi authority to Amsterdam were under the control of Nazi's again. Day by day restrictions over demonized Jewish people had been tightening.
Jews had had to put a yellow star on their breast.
Jews were forbidden to use or ride in street cars.
Jews were forbidden to use bicycles.
Jews were required to do shopping between 3 and 5 pm.
Jews were forbidden to be out on the streets between 8 pm and 6am.
Jews were forbidden to attend cinemas, theatres.
Jews were forbidden to use swimming pools, courts etc.
Jews were forbidden to sit on their gardens after 8 pm.
Jews were forbidden to visit Christians in their homes.
These restrictions are only few examples. But the worst case was, Germans had begun to capture Jews and sent them to work –camps. Of course any information could not be gathering from gone Jews moreover there were several stories about camps.
In 5 July 1942, Margot, elder sister of Anne, received the call-up paper. There was no time and Otto Frank made a decision to go hide. Though it was the shock for all of family, Otto was prepared; he already had a plan and called his secretary Miep Gies. They were going to hide in Annex which is attached to Opektra offices and warehouse. Later Anne was going to write Annex was the best place for hiding in Amsterdam and one of the bests in Holland. They moved to Annex at midnight 6 July 1942.
It was going to be hard to live in Annex, they need more money and they had a chance to save more people cause there were enough room else. So, In 13 July 1942, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels and their son Peter van Pels had moved to Annex. Later Fritz Pfeffer joined them too.
8 people lived in small Annex more than 2 years. They ate together, sleep together. There was no light during the day, since they could be seen, it was forbidden to use toilet since it could be heared, they had only few people (Miep Gies, Bep Voskuijl, Jo Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Jan Gies) and one radio to get information from outside. They all stocked in Annex, which they could not move and is visited by 31.000.000 people in a year though they have to wait more than 1 or 2 hours waiting.
In 4 August 1944, only 2 months after the D-Day, it was very close for US and UK troops to reach Amsterdam, they were arrested. All of 8 people were sent to House of Detention, an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to the Westerbork transit camp, through which by that time more than 100,000 Jews, mostly Dutch and German, had passed. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor. On 3 September 1944 they were deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp where firstly Otto Frank was separated from his family and then Edith died in 6 January 1945.
Margot and Anne were together alone in Auschwitz, they had no clothes no foods till both died because of typhus in February 1945. Just few weeks later their camp was liberated.
Anne's one of the dreams was to be a famous writer on one day. She could not live to try it, however when in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast from London that after the war he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of the suffering of the Dutch people under the German occupation, which could be made available to the public. Anne Frank noticed the value of her diary which was going to be found by Miep Gies after the arrestment.
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank is a bestseller now and she is a famous writer who could only find chance to write her diary.
“One day this terrible war will be over. The time will come when we'll be people and not just Jews!”
