What do you think of when you hear the name Anne Frank? World War II? The Holocaust? The Academy Award winning movie from 1959? For me, the name Anne Frank represents loss. Loss of innocence, loss of freedom, loss of life and loss of a damn fine writer. Yes, a writer. Anne Frank is often viewed historically solely for the mature courage she displayed during the harshest time anyone could possibly imagine. What is often overlooked is that her famous diary is not only a perfect record of her ordeal but also an excellent guidebook for humanity.
If you’ve never read The Diary of Anne Frank, you may mistakenly believe that the diary’s interest and relevancy are because it is the account of a child who died in the Holocaust. But if you have read her diary, you might agree that the work is much more than that. The diary is a remarkable record of a young woman developing mentally, sexually, and spiritually in the midst of the worst circumstances imaginable. The Diary of Anne Frank is remarkably easy to read; an extraordinarily intimate and detailed view of the complex thoughts of a teenage girl dealing with everyday problems. Much of what she writes is easily translatable to today’s youth and I suspect will translate well to youthful generations yet to come.
Anne obviously used her diary as a convenient form of self therapy in her search for answers to questions that would have surely surfaced in her life whether she was in hiding or out in the free world. In the midst of her insane world, she never stopped trying to improve her reasoning, knowledge, and character. The diary reveals a beautiful, brilliant mind trying to find “truth” amidst overwhelmingly contradictory data, forces, and ideologies. I am prefacing this article under the assumption that everyone knows the story of Anne Frank. But for those of you who might need a quick refresher…
Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in the city of Frankfurt in Weimar Germany. She lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the year the Nazis gained control over Germany. By May 1940, they were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank was stripped of her citizenship in 1941 because of her Jewish heritage.
For her thirteenth birthday, Anne received a book which she had pointed out to her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-white checkered cloth with a small lock on the front, Frank decided she would use it as a diary. She made her first entry that very day, expressing the hope that she would be able to confide completely in her diary and that it would be a great support and comfort to her. The early entries are devoted to the mundane aspects of everyday life; she reports about her birthday, her fellow students, events at the Jewish Lyceum (high school) and about the few fun things that Jewish youngsters were still allowed to enjoy that spring
Anne also comments on the changes taking place in the Netherlands since the Nazi occupation. Within a week of starting the diary, her entries take on a more journalistic aspect as she lists many of the restrictions placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population and notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year. But, remember, Anne was 13 and she daydreams freely about becoming an actress. She laments that although she loves watching movies, Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters after January 8, 1941.
As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, Anne’s sister Margot received an order from the “Central Office for Jewish Emigration” to report for relocation to a work camp; the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms of a building where Anne’s father worked. Otto Frank took his family into hiding in rooms above and behind a building located on a street along one of Amsterdam’s canals, where some of his most trusted employees would help them.
Here, hidden away from the outside world, sworn to secrecy in a world ruled by silence, Anne Frank slowly evolved into a writer. The first weeks in hiding were so difficult for the bubbly effervescent Anne, she could not even write about the ordeal in her diary. Eventually, Anne adopted the idea of addressing all future diary entries to members of an imaginary club of girl friends, in particular “Kitty,” her best friend. These diary letters contain some riddles and jokes, but also remarks about her reading and her experiences in hiding.
Whether you would classify her as a documentarian, a diarist or a reporter, you cannot deny that she was a writer. After nearly two years in hiding, she realized what her life’s ambition was. Gone were the pre-teen fantasies of becoming an actress. Now the teenaged Anne Frank aspired to be a journalist. On Wednesday April 5, 1944 she wrote:
“I finally realized that I must do my schoolwork to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write … but it remains to be seen whether I really have talent … And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?”
Although Anne Frank’s words were written over seven decades ago, I implore you, re-read that diary entry and admit that those are the thoughts of every writer at some point or another. Makes you want to read (or re-read) The Diary of Anne Frank doesn’t it?
As the diary progresses, the reader’s sense of foreboding increases in light of the inevitable conclusion. What the reader discovers pretty plainly is that different people respond to bad circumstances differently. The reader asks the question, “What would I do if I were in Anne’s situation?” As her “hiding time” increased, Anne began to realize, with an ever-increasing degree of certainty, that at any moment she could be rounded up like livestock, arrested, separated from her family and killed. Her response when confronted with thoughts of these terrors can be found in her diary: “If I only have a short time left to live, I will use it to write the most truthful and substantive things I know.” and “I will love those around me as much as is allowed and be honest with myself about that love.”
Those themes in her writing are what continue to inspire us. It’s amazing that an adolescent girl, who had to live a hidden life, still found ways to so positively effect the world. While she had aspirations of being a writer, she could not have reasonably thought her words would be published or become famous some day. With that understanding, she did what she could do, and she wrote her intimate thoughts down — at least for her own peace of mind, if not also for the possible benefit of others.
By July of 1944, based on her entry of the 15th, Anne has reached her zenith. She proclaims that she has a “good deal of self-knowledge… she feels that she can view herself objectively and assess her strengths and weaknesses.” Anne concludes that “life is far more difficult for the young, given that young people don’t have a strong sense of who they are.” Anne pragmatically feels that life in the Annex has been far harder on her, than on the adults: “…ideals, dreams, and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality.” In spite of all of this, Anne still clings to the hope that people are innately good, that her dreams are within reach, and that peace will prevail.
On Friday, July 21, 1944, Anne displays the pluck and puckishness so dearly cherished by all freedom loving peoples by exclaiming: “Good news: somebody has tried to kill Hitler. Unfortunately, Hitler managed to get away with just a few scratches and burns. But it shows that a lot of generals and officers are sick of the war, too. Maybe it’ll make the war end sooner.”
That jubilant observational diary entry obviously caused Anne Frank to reflect upon the contradiction of it all. What was she to make of Nazis killing Nazis for the betterment of a cause so malformed from the beginning? It was all a great contradiction to the little diarist in the attic. She would examine that contradiction in a diary entry on August 1, 1944. Seventy years ago this week. It would be Anne Frank’s final diary entry.
Next Week: Part II, The Diary of Anne Frank
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
