THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

Anne Frank

THE DAIRY OF

ANNE FRANK

Final Edition

ISBN: 9786500003666

Foreword

In 1940, after Germany invaded the Netherlands, Anne and her family could not leave the country, so they decided to hide in a warehouse to escape the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. For over two years, Anne wrote in her diary with an awareness that was extremely mature for her age. She detailed her experiences and insights while she and her family were in hiding, living in a constant fear of being arrested. Anne Frank’s diary is a record of her understanding of the war and showcases her incredible storytelling abilities in such horrific circumstances.

In 1944, the Franks were found and sent to concentration camps. Anne died before she turned 16, and her father, Otto Frank, was the only family member to survive the Holocaust. After the War, Otto returned to Amsterdam, where he found his daughter’s diary and later published it as The Diary of a Young Girl.

Anne Frank's Diary is just a small part of World War II history. But reading it can open our minds to the enormous errors and crimes committed by the Nazism against human beings. Anne Frank's Diary is a book that undoubtedly deserves to be read.

LeBooks Edition

Summary

INTRODUCTION

THE DIARY

Sunday, 14 June, 1942

Monday, 15 June, 1942

Saturday, 20 June, 1942

Saturday, 20 June, 1942

Sunday, 2I June, 1942

Wednesday, 24 June, 1942

Tuesday, 30 June, 1942

Friday, 3 July, 1942

Sunday morning, 5 July, 1942

Wednesday, 8 July, 1942

Thursday, 9 July, 1942

Friday, 10 July, 1942

Saturday, 1I July, 1942

Friday, 14 August, 1942

Friday, 2I August, 1942

Wednesday, 2 September, 1942

Monday, 2I September, 1942

Friday, 25 September, 1942

Sunday, 27 September, 1942

Monday, 28 September, 1942

Tuesday, 29 September, 1942

Thursday, I October, 1942

Saturday, 3 October, 1942

Friday, 9 October, 1942

Friday, 16 October, 1942

Tuesday, 20 October, 1942

Thursday, 29 October, 1942

Saturday, 7 November, 1942

Monday, 9 November, 1942

Tuesday, 10 November, 1942

Thursday, 12 November, 1942

Tuesday, 17 November, 1942

Thursday, 19 November, 1942

Friday, 20 November, 1942

Saturday, 28 November, 1942

Monday, 7 December, 1942

Thursday, 10 December, 1942

Sunday, 13 December, 1942

Tuesday, 22 December, 1942

Wednesday, 13 January, 1943

Saturday, 30 January, 1943

Friday, 5 February, 1943

Saturday, 27 February, 1943

Wednesday, 10 March, 1943

Friday, 12 March, 1943

Thursday, 18 March, 1943

Friday, 19 March, 1943

Thursday, 25 March, 1943

Saturday, 27 March, 1943

Thursday, I April, 1943

Friday, 2 April, 1943

Tuesday, 27 April, 1943

Saturday, I May, 1943

Tuesday, 18 May, 1943

Sunday, 13 June, 1943

Tuesday, 15 June, 1943

Sunday, 1I July, 1943

Tuesday, 13 July, 1943

Friday, 16 July, 194 3 ;

Monday, 19 July, 1943

Friday, 23 July, I 943

Monday, 26 July, 1943

Thursday, 29 July, 1943

Tuesday, 3 August, 1943

Wednesday, 4 August, 1943

Thursday, 5 August, 1943

Monday, 9 August, 1943

Tuesday, 10 August, 1943

Wednesday, 18 August, 1943

Friday, 20 August, 1943

Monday, 23 August, 1943

Friday, 10 September, 1943

Thursday, 16 September, 1943

Wednesday, 29 September, 1943

Sunday, 17 October, 1943

Friday, 29 October, 1943

Wednesday, 3 November, 1943

Monday evening, 8 November, 1943

Thursday, 11 November, 1943

Wednesday, 17 November, 1943

Saturday, 27 November 1943

Monday, 6 December, 1943

Wednesday, 22 December, 1943

Friday, 24 December, 1943

Saturday, 25 December, 1943

Friday, 26 December, 1943

Monday, 27 December, 1943

Wednesday, 29 December, 1943

Sunday, 2 January, 1944

Wednesday, 5 January, 1944

Thursday, 6 January, 1944

Friday, 7 January, 1944

Wednesday, 12 January, 1944

Saturday, 15 January, 1944

Saturday, 22 January, 1944

Monday, 24 January, 1944

Friday, 28 January, 1944

Thursday, 3 February, 1944

Saturday, 12 February, 1944

Sunday, 13 February, 1944

Monday, 14 February, 1944

Wednesday, 16 February, 1944

Friday, 18 February, 1944

Saturday, 19 February, 1944

Wednesday, 23 February, 1944

Sunday, 27 February, 1944

Monday, 28 February, 1944

Wednesday, I March, 1944

Thursday, 2 March, 1944

Friday, 3 March, 1944

Saturday, 4 March, 1944

Monday, 6 March, 1944

Tuesday, 7 March, 1944

Sunday, 12 March, 1944

Tuesday, 14 March, 1944

Wednesday, 15 March, 1944

Thursday, 16 March, 1944

Friday, 17 March, 1944

Sunday, 19 March, 1944

Monday, 20 March, 1944

MARCH 20th, 1944

Wednesday, 22 March, 1944

Thursday, 23 March, 1944

Monday, 27 March, 1944

Tuesday, 28 March, 1944

Wednesday, 29 March, 1944

Friday, 3I March, 1944

Saturday, I April, 1944

Monday, 3 April, 1944

Tuesday, 4 April, 1944

Thursday, 6 April, 1944

Tuesday, 11 April, 1944

Friday, 14 April, 1944

Saturday, 15 April, 1944

Sunday morning, just before eleven o'clock, 16 April, 1944

Monday, 17 April, 1944

Tuesday, 18 April, 1944

Wednesday, April 19, 1944

Friday, April 21,1944

Tuesday, April 25, 1944

Thursday, April 27, 1944

Friday, 28 April 1944

Tuesday, 2 May, 1944

Wednesday, 3 May, 1944

Friday, 5 May, 1944

Saturday, 6 May, 1944

Sunday morning, 7 May, 1944

Monday, 8 May, 1944

Tuesday, 9 May, 1944

Wednesday, 10 May, 1944

Thursday, I I May, 1944

Saturday, 13 May, 1944

Tuesday, 16 May, 1944

Friday, I 9 May, 1944

Saturday, 20 May, 1944

Monday, 22 May, 1944

Thursday, 25 May, 1944

Friday, 26 May, 1944

Wednesday, 3I May, 1944

Monday, 5 June, 1944

Tuesday, 6 June, 1944

Friday, 9 June, 1944

Tuesday, 13 June, 1944

Wednesday, 14 June, 1944

Thursday, 15 June, 1944

Friday, 16 June, 1944

Friday, 23 June, 1944

Tuesday, 27 June, 1944

Friday, 30 June, 1944

Thursday, 6 July, 1944

Saturday, 8 July, 1944

Saturday, 15 July, 1944

Friday, 2 I July, 1944

Tuesday, I August, 1944

Afterword: Historical Context

When I write, I feel relief, my pain disappears, the courage returns. But I wonder: will I ever write anything of importance? Will I become a journalist or writer? I hope so, I hope with all my heart! By writing I can clarify everything, my thoughts, my ideals, my fantasies.

INTRODUCTION

The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a journal by Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager who chronicled her family’s two years (1942-44) in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II.

The book was first published in 1947, two years after Anne’s death in a concentration camp, and later became a classic of war literature.

Anne Frank, 6, at school in Amsterdam in 1940

Background

In 1933 Anne’s family—her father, Otto; her mother, Edith; and her older sister, Margot—moved to Amsterdam from Germany following the rise of Adolf Hitler. In 1940 the Netherlands was invaded by Germany, which began to enact various anti-Jewish measures, one of which required Anne and her sister to enroll in an all-Jewish school the following year.

On June 12, 1942, Anne received a red-and-white plaid diary for her 13th birthday. That day she began writing in the book: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support. The following month Margot received an order to report to a labor camp. Facing arrest if she did not comply, the family went into hiding on July 6, 1942, moving into a secret annex at Otto’s business in Amsterdam, the entrance to which was soon hidden behind a moveable bookcase. The Franks were later joined by four other Jews—Hermann and Auguste van Pels and their son, Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer—and were aided by several friends, including Miep Gies, who brought food and other supplies.

Life in hiding and capture.

Over the next two years, Anne wrote faithfully in the diary, which she came to consider a friend, addressing many of the entries to Dear Kitty. In the journal and later notebooks, Anne recounted the day-to-day life within the annex. The close quarters and sparse supplies led to various arguments among the inhabitants, and the outgoing Anne came to find the conditions stifling. Heightening tensions was the ever-present concern that they would be discovered. However, many entries involve typical adolescent issues—jealousy toward her sister; annoyance with others, especially her mother; and an increasing sexual awareness. Anne wrote candidly about her developing body, and she experienced a brief romance with Peter van Pels. She also discussed her hopes for the future, which included becoming a journalist or a writer. In addition to the diary, Anne penned several short stories and compiled a list of beautiful sentences from other works.

After learning of plans to collect diaries and other papers to chronicle people’s wartime experiences, Anne began to rework her journal for possible publication as a novel entitled Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex). She notably created pseudonyms for all the inhabitants, eventually adopting Anne Robin as her alias. Pfeffer—whom Anne had come to dislike as the two often argued over the use of a desk—was named Albert Dussel, the surname of which is German for idiot.

Anne’s last diary entry was written on August 1, 1944. Three days later the secret annex was discovered by the Gestapo, which had received a tip from Dutch informers. All of the inhabitants were taken into custody. In September the Frank family arrived at Auschwitz, though Anne and Margot were transferred to Bergen-Belsen the following month. In 1945 Anne as well as her mother and sister died.

Diary: compilation and publication

Of the eight people in the secret annex, only Otto Frank survived the war. He subsequently returned to Amsterdam, where Gies gave him various documents she had saved from the annex. Among the papers was Anne’s diary, though some of the notebooks were missing, notably most of those from 1943. To fulfill Anne’s dream of publication, Otto began sorting through her writings. The original red-and-white checkered journal became known as the A version, while her revised entries, written on loose sheets of paper, were known as the B version. The diary that Otto ultimately compiled was the C version, which omitted approximately 30 percent of her entries. Much of the excluded text was sexual-related or concerned Anne’s difficulties with her mother.

After Otto was unable to find a publisher, the work was given to historian Jan Romein, who was so impressed that he wrote about the diary in a front-page article for the newspaper Het Parool in 1946. The resulting attention led to a publishing deal with Contact, and Het Achterhuis was released on June 25, 1947. An immediate best seller in the Netherlands, the work began to appear elsewhere. In 1952 the first American edition was published under the title Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl; it included an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. The work was eventually translated into more than 65 languages, and it was later adapted for the stage and screen. All proceeds went to a foundation established in Anne’s honor. In 1995.

Written with insight, some humor, and intelligence, the Diary became a classic of war literature, personalizing the Holocaust and offering a moving coming-of-age story. To many, the book was also a source of inspiration and hope. During such adversity, Anne poignantly wrote, I still believe, despite everything, that people are really good at heart.

Characters list

Anne Frank - The author of the diary. Anne was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, and was four years old when her father moved to Holland to find a better place for the family to live. She is very intelligent and perceptive, and she wants to become a writer. Anne grows from an innocent, tempestuous, precocious, and somewhat petty teenage girl to an empathetic and sensitive thinker at age fifteen. Anne dies of typhus in the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in late February or early March of 1945.

Margot Frank - Anne’s older sister. Margot was born in Frankfurt in 1926. She receives little attention in Anne’s diary, and Anne does not provide a real sense of Margot’s character. Anne thinks that Margot is pretty, smart, emotional, and everyone’s favorite. However, Anne and Margot do not form a close bond, and Margot mainly appears in the diary when she is the cause of jealousy or anger. She dies of typhus in the concentration camp a few days before Anne does.

Otto Frank - Anne’s father. Otto is practical and kind, and Anne feels a particular kinship to him. He was born on May 12, 1889, into a wealthy Frankfurt family, but the family’s international-banking business collapsed during the German economic depression that followed World War I. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, Otto moved to Amsterdam in 1933 to protect his family from persecution. There he made a living selling chemical products and provisions until the family was forced into hiding in 1942. Otto is the only member of the family to survive the war, and he lives until 1980.

Edith Frank - Anne’s mother. Edith Hollander was originally from Aachen, Germany, and she married Otto in 1925. Anne feels little closeness or sympathy with her mother, and the two have a very tumultuous relationship. Anne thinks her mother is too sentimental and critical. Edith dies of hunger and exhaustion in the concentration camp at Auschwitz in January 1945.

Mr. van Daan - The father of the family that hides in the annex along with the Franks and who had worked with Otto Frank as an herbal specialist in Amsterdam. Mr. van Daan’s actual name is Hermann van Pels, but Anne calls him Mr. van Daan in the diary. According to Anne, he is intelligent, opinionated, pragmatic, and somewhat egotistical. Mr. van Daan is temperamental, speaks his mind openly, and is not afraid to cause friction, especially with his wife, with whom he fights frequently and openly. He dies in the gas chambers at Auschwitz in October or November of 1944.

Mrs. van Daan - Mr. van Daan’s wife. Her actual name is Auguste van Pels, but Anne calls her Petronella van Daan in her diary. Anne initially describes Mrs. van Daan as a friendly, teasing woman, but later calls her an instigator. She is a fatalist and can be petty, egotistical, flirtatious, stingy, and disagreeable. Mrs. van Daan frequently complains about the family’s situation—criticism that Anne does not admire or respect. Mrs. van Daan does not survive the war, but the exact date of her death is unknown.

Peter van Daan - The teenage son of the van Daans, whose real name is Peter van Pels. Anne first sees Peter as obnoxious, lazy, and hypersensitive, but later they become close friends. Peter is quiet, timid, honest, and sweet to Anne, but he does not share her strong convictions. During their time in the annex, Anne and Peter develop a romantic attraction, which Mr. Frank discourages. Peter is Anne’s first kiss, and he is her one confidant and source of affection and attention in the annex. Peter dies on May 5, 1945, at the concentration camp at Mauthausen, only three days before the camp was liberated.

Albert Dussel - A dentist and an acquaintance of the Franks who hides with them in the annex. His real name is Fritz Pfeffer, but Anne calls him Mr. Dussel in the diary. Anne finds Mr. Dussel particularly difficult to deal with because he shares a room with her, and she suffers the brunt of his odd personal hygiene habits, pedantic lectures, and controlling tendencies. Mr. Dussel’s wife is a Christian, so she does not go into hiding, and he is separated from her. He dies on December 20, 1944, at the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Mr. Kugler - A man who helps hide the Franks in the annex. Victor Kugler is arrested along with Kleiman in 1944 but escapes in 1945. He immigrates to Canada in 1955 and dies in Toronto in 1981. Mr. Kugler is also referred to as Mr. Kraler.

Mr. Kleiman - Another man who helps the Franks hide. Johannes Kleiman is arrested in 1944 but released because of poor health. He remains in Amsterdam until his death in 1959. Mr. Kleiman is also referred to as Mr. Koophuis.

Bep Voskuijl - A worker in Otto Frank’s office. Elizabeth (Bep) Voskuijl helps the family by serving as a liaison to the outside world. She remains in Amsterdam until her death in 1983.

Mr. Voskuijl - Bep’s father.

Miep Gies - A secretary at Otto’s office who helps the Franks hide. After the Franks are arrested, she stows the diary away in a desk drawer and keeps it there, unread, until Otto’s return in 1945. She died in 2010 at the age of 100.

Jan Gies - Miep’s husband. He dies in 1993.

Hanneli - Anne’s school friend. The Nazis arrest her early in the war.

Peter Schiff - The love of Anne’s life from the sixth grade. Peter Schiff is a boy one year older than Anne. She has dreams about him while in the annex. Peter Schiff is also referred to as Peter Wessel.

Hello Silberberg - A boy with whom Anne has an innocent, though romantic relationship before she goes into hiding. Hello is also referred to as Harry Goldberg.

THE DIARY

Sunday, 14 June, 1942

On Friday, June 12th, I woke up at six o'clock and no wonder, it was my birthday. But of course, I was not allowed to get up at that hour, so I had to control my curiosity until a quarter to seven. Then I could bear it no longer, and went to the dining room, where I received a warm welcome from Moortje (the cat).

Soon after seven I went to Mummy and Daddy and then to the sitting room to undo my presents. The first to greet me was you, possibly the nicest of all. Then on the table there were a bunch of roses, a plant, and some peonies, and more arrived during the day.

I got masses of things from Mummy and Daddy and was thoroughly spoiled by various friends. Among other things I was given Camera Obscura, a party game, lots of sweets, chocolates, a puzzle, a brooch, Tales and Legends of the Netherlands by Joseph Cohen, Daisy's Mountain Holiday (a terrific book), and some money. Now I can buy The Myths of Greece and Rome—grand!

Then Lies called for me and we went to school. During recess I treated everyone to sweet biscuits, and then we had to go back to our lessons.

Now I must stop. Bye-bye, we're going to be great pals!

Monday, 15 June, 1942

I had my birthday party on Sunday afternoon. We showed a film The Lighthouse Keeper with Rin-Tin-Tin, which my school friends thoroughly enjoyed. We had a lovely time. There were lots of girls and boys. Mummy always wants to know whom I'm going to marry. Little does she guess that it's Peter Wessel, one day I managed, without blushing or flickering an eyelid, to get that idea right out of her mind.

For years Lies Goosens and Sanne Houtman have been my best friends. Since then, I've got to know Jopie de Waal at the Jewish Secondary School. We are together a lot and she is now my best girlfriend. Lies is more friendly with another girl, and Sanne goes to a different school, where she has made new friends.

Saturday, 20 June, 1942

I haven't written for a few days, because I wanted first to think about my diary. It's an odd idea for someone like me to keep a diary, not only because I have never done so before, but because it seems to me that neither I—nor for that matter anyone else —will be interested in the unbosoming’s of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. Still, what does that matter? I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart.

There is a saying that paper is more patient than man, it came back to me on one of my slightly melancholy days, while I sat chin in hand, feeling too bored and limp even to make up my mind whether to go out or stay at home. Yes, there is no doubt that paper is patient and as I don't intend to show this cardboard-covered notebook, bearing the proud name of diary, to anyone, unless I find a real friend, boy or girl, probably nobody cares. And now I come to the root of the matter, the reason for my starting a diary: it is that I have no such real friend.

Let me put it more clearly, since no one will believe that a girl of thirteen feels herself quite alone in the world, nor is it so. I have darling parents and a sister of sixteen. I know about thirty people whom one might call friends—I have strings of boyfriends, anxious to catch a glimpse of me and who, failing that, peep at me through mirrors in class. I have relations, aunts and uncles, who are darlings too, a good home, no I don't seem to lack anything. But it's the same with all my friends, just fun and joking, nothing more. I can never bring myself to talk of anything outside the common round. We don't seem to be able to get any closer, that is the root of the trouble. Perhaps I lack confidence, but anyway, there it is, a stubborn fact and I don't seem to be able to do anything about it.

Hence, this diary. To enhance in my mind's eye, the picture of the friend for whom I have waited so long, I don't want to set down a series of bald facts in a diary like most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend Kitty. No one will grasp what I'm talking about if I begin my letters to Kitty just out of the blue, so, albeit unwillingly, I will start by sketching in brief the story of my life.

My father was thirty-six when he married my mother, who was then twenty-five. My sister Margot was born in 1926 in Frankfort-on-Main, I followed on June 12, 1929, and, as we are Jewish, we emigrated to Holland in 1933, where my father was appointed Managing Director of Travies N.V. This firm is in close relationship with the firm of Kolen & Co. in the same building, of which my father is a partner.

The rest of our family, however, felt the full impact of Hitler's anti-Jewish laws, so life was filled with anxiety. In 1938 after the pogroms, my two uncles (my mother's brothers) escaped to the U.S.A. My old grandmother came to us, she was then seventy-three. After May 1940 good times rapidly fled: first the war, then the capitulation, followed by the arrival of the Germans, which is when the sufferings of us Jews really began. Anti-Jewish decrees followed each other in quick succession. Jews must wear a yellow star, I Jews must hand in their bicycles, Jews are banned from trams and are forbidden to drive. Jews are only allowed to do their shopping between three and five o'clock and then only in shops which bear the placard Jewish shop. Jews must be indoors by eight o'clock and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour. Jews are forbidden to visit theaters, cinemas, and other places of entertainment. Jews may not take part in public sports. Swimming baths, tennis courts, hockey fields, and other sports grounds are all prohibited to them. Jews may not visit Christians. Jews must go to Jewish schools, and manymore restrictions of a similar kind.

So, we could not do this and were forbidden to do that. But life went on despite it all. Jopie used to say to me, You're scared to do anything, because it may be forbidden. Our freedom was strictly limited. Yet things were still bearable.

Granny died in January 1942; no one will ever know how much she is present in my thoughts and how much I love her still.

In 1934 I went to school at the Montessori Kindergarten and continued there. It was at the end of the school year, I was in form 6B, when I had to say good-by to Mrs. K. We both wept, it was very sad. In 194I I went, with my sister Margot, to the Jewish Secondary School, she into the fourth form and I into the first.

So far everything is all right with the four of us and here I come to the present day.

To distinguish them from others, all Jews were forced by the Germans to wear, prominently displayed, a yellow six-pointed star.

Saturday, 20 June, 1942

Dear Kitty,

I'll start straight away. It is so peaceful now, Mummy and Daddy are out and Margot has gone to play ping-pong with some friends.

I've been playing ping-pong a lot myself lately. We ping pongers are very partial to an ice cream, especially in summer, when one gets warm at the game, so we usually finish up with a visit to the nearest ice-cream shop, Delphi or Oasis, where Jews are allowed. We've given up scrounging for extra pocket money. Oasis is usually full and among our large circle of friends we always manage to find some kindhearted gentleman or boyfriend, who presents us with more ice cream than we could devour in a week.

I expect you will be rather surprised at the fact that I should talk of boyfriends at my age. Alas, one simply can't seem to avoid it at our school. As soon as a boy asks if he may bicycle home with me and we get into conversation, nine out of ten times I can be sure that he will fall head over heels in love immediately and simply won't allow me out of his sight. After a while it cools down of course, especially as I take little notice of ardent looks and pedal blithely on.

If it gets so far that they begin about asking Father I swerve slightly on my bicycle, my satchel falls, the young man is bound to get off and hand it to me, by which time I have introduced a new topic of conversation.

These are the most innocent types, you get some who blow kisses or try to get hold of your arm, but then they are knocking at the wrong door. I get off my bicycle and refuse to go further