About the Book
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
About the Author(s)
What we know of Anne Frank is only from her diary which has its first entry on June 12, 1942 who had received it as a birthday present and the entries in the diary end abruptly on 1 August, 1944.
Anne Frank and her family lived a peaceful life in Frankfurt, Germany but they had to escape to Amsterdam with fellow Jews and go into hiding, as the Nazis took over Europe. Anne writes in her diary the tribulations her family had to face living in hiding, because they knew if caught, they would have to suffer horribly. The sufferance of the Jews during the Holocaust is known to all; yet a thirteen year old feeling the impact of intolerance and racism makes readers realize how profound the impacts of the World War II was.
What is most captivating is that amidst the terror and the fear, Anne manages to remain a cheerful girl full of life, who loved to talk and observe. Still a teenager and unaware of the horrors lurking behind their hiding space, Anne fails to realize the fear trapped within the hearts of elders initially and describes everyday events from the view of a teenager. As the story develops, Anne develops and realization comes over her. The Nazis are getting more stringent and oppression rises; there are certain places in the book that leaves readers sad and distressed. One day, Anne's entire family including her, gets captured and the diary ends abruptly with the promise of a new day that never comes in the life of Anne Frank. Anne's father, Otto Frank, was the only one in the family who had managed to escape the concentration camps they were taken to and went on to make Anne's diary into a book.
