The Diary of a Young Girl

By: Anne Frank

Introduction

Anne Frank, born on June 12, 1929, was the second daughter of Otto and Edith Frank,
both from respected German Jewish families engaged in commerce for many generations. Otto
Frank could trace his heritage in Frankfurt back to the seventeenth century, and Edith Hollander
Frank came from a prominent Aachen family. Anne and her older sister, Margot, were raised in
Germany in an atmosphere of tolerance. The Franks had friends of many faiths and nationalities.
Otto Frank served honorably as an officer in the German Army during World War I.

Based on Anne Frank's diary in Nazi-occupied Holland, Otto Frank and his family have
decided to go into hiding, because of the increasing persecutions against Jews. The businessman
Kraler and his assistant Miep prepare a hiding place in the rooms above their place of business,
and arrange for the Franks and another family, the Van Daans, to stay there. Later on, they are
joined by the dentist Dussel. Together, they try to avoid detection while hoping for Holland to
be liberated by the Allies, but even meeting basic needs can become a challenge, and even
minor incidents could present a grave risk.

Otto Frank, Anne’s father, survived Auschwitz and was liberated by Soviet soldiers in
January 1945. By summer, he learned that his daughters and his wife were all dead. It was Otto
who published Anne's diary in 1947. Otto went on to have a long life. He passed away in Basel,
Switzerland in 1980, at the age of 91.

Anne writes from the perspective of a young girl, so her tone is often emotional and
insecure, and she is both critical of herself and others, her accounts are highly personal and
philosophical. Anne decides to give her diary a name, Kitty, and to write to Kitty as if the diary
is the close friend she was always wanted. The setting place was in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
It was published for the first time on 1037. The genre of this book was autobiography, historical,
drama.

Body

Anne’s diary in itself is a symbol of comfort. It was a gift from her last birthday before
she had to go into hiding, making it something she can cling to from her former life. It also
enables her to maintain her privacy as she is living in a small space with seven other people and
sharing a bedroom with a middle-aged man. Anne writes, “I hope I will be able to confide
everything to you, as I never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great
source of comfort and support.” The diary becomes even more than that when, after a break-
in the diary becomes a real threat to their existence if the police find it, yet Anne is willing to
sacrifice her life to keep it.

Because of Anne’s age and the horrific events she lived through, her story is an
inspiration to everyone. Talk about making the best of adversity of Anne accomplished and
experienced things we could never comprehend but she stood tall. None the less, her age left
her open to many moments of social discomfiture. She was a young teenager working through
hormones, bucking her mother’s guidance and clinging to her father. Like most young girls she
saw her mother as her enemy and her father as the love of her life. She had a crush on Peter
(her first love), so she had to move through what’s and whys of appropriate behavior. How do
you date while living in the same house? How do you get a privacy when there is none? The
poor thing had to share room with an old man not easy.

In The Diary of a Young Girl is caused by the anti-Semitic world in which Anne Frank
lived which led to Hitler's repressive Nazi regime. Anne Frank and her family were German
refugees who resettled and tried to build their lives in the Netherlands. Although the Franks
were proud of their German heritage, their feelings toward Germany became very complicated
during the war. Anne wrote: "Fine specimens of humanity, those Germans, and to think I’m
actually one of them! No. that’s not true, Hitler took away our nationality long ago. And besides,
there are no greater enemies on earth than the Germans and Jews." (October 9, 1942.)
Although Anne had lived in the Netherlands since 1934, she did not become a Dutch citizen.

Conclusion

The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most shocking testimonies about anti-Semitism
during the World War II. Since Anne’s diary is a true personal account of a life in hiding, it is
inappropriate to analyze it as a novel or other work of fiction. Parts of the diary were intended
for public view, but others clearly were not. To appreciate and interpret the diary, it is necessary
to consider its horrible context, World War II and the Holocaust, before any discussion of plot
development or thematic content.
I conclude this book really left me wishing to know Anne Frank and I was aching with
sadness for her fate when her diary ended on August the 1st. It brought a new perspective on
the war and all that she wrote about and I dearly wish I could have helped her to live. I highly
recommend it to anyone who is willing to look at the honest works of a glorious author and to
whoever wishes to remember Anne Frank as if they were a dear friend.
Bibliography
Doubleday - New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland
(c) 1991 by The Anne Frank-Fonds, Basel, Switzerland (www.annefrank.com)
English translation (c) 1995 by Doubleday, a division of
Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America, March 1995
ISBN 0-385-47378-8
Scanned 09-2003, ver. 1.0
Prepared by:
ROSCHELLE M. TRESVALLES
BEED