The Life of Anne Frank

Before the Secret Annex

• Birth--Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 to Otto and Edith Frank in the city of Frankfurt, Germany. Anne had a sister, Margot, who was 3 years older. Frankfurt was a large financial center. Otto Frank was in the banking business.

• The rise of the Nazis--Some leaders in Germany had negative ideas about the Jewish communities of the cities of Europe. Germany had lost a great deal in World War I and had to pay for the damages to other countries. In the years following the war, they suffered through inflation and then depression. German pride had been injured, and the Germans were ready for a savior, but what they got was Adolph Hitler. Hitler brought an ideology of the supremacy of the German people. He blamed the Jews for the nation's troubles, and spread hatred about other groups such as Gypsies and Jehovah's Witnesses. When Hitler's Nazi party came to power in 1933, anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews) became public policy. Jews were denied jobs. Jewish children had to attend separate schools. There were limits on where Jews could go, where they could shop, and when they could be on the streets.

• The move to Amsterdam--In the summer of 1933, when Anne was 4 years old, Otto Frank moved his family to the Netherlands to escape the hatred of the Nazis. He developed a business in food and chemical products and prospered. Anne went to a Montessori kindergarten and grade school.

• The Nazi's come to Amsterdam--Hitler wanted to control all of Europe. In 1939, German armies invaded Poland. Because of this, England and France declared war on Germany. World War II had begun. In May, 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the Franks and other Jews in Amsterdam were again controlled by the Nazis. Jews were forced to wear badges--a yellow "Star of David." Anne was forced to go to an all-Jewish school. Businesses owned by Jews were to be liquidated and Otto Frank passed the business into the hands of trusted non-Jewish friends. In December, 1940, the business was moved to 263 Prinsengracht, the building that was to become famous for its secret annex.

• Occupied Amsterdam--During the two years following the Nazi invasion, life became more and more difficult for the Franks. Mr. Frank began to devise a plan to move his family into hiding. In June, 1942, the Nazis informed the Franks that Anne's older sister, Margot, was to be taken away. The time for decision had come, and the Franks secretly hid in a suite of rooms at the back of 263 Prinsengracht. This was in the early part of July, 1942. The entry to the rooms was hidden with a bookcase.

• The Diary begins--One month before the family went into hiding, Anne began her diary. She told of her friends and flirtations in the light and giddy manner of a precocious adolescent. During WWII, many adults and children kept diaries. Anne's was to become the most famous because of her beautiful writing ability, her sincerity, and they way she gave a name and a face to the victims of the Holocaust.

The Frank Family in Hiding

• The people of the annex--Eight people eventually came to live in the secret annex. There were the four members of the Frank family (Otto Frank, Edith Frank, Margot and Anne), three from the Van Pels family (Herman and Auguste Van Pels and their son Peter), and an elderly dentist named Friedrich Pfeffer.

• The Dutch protectors--In addition, four people acted as helpers for the people in the annex, and brought them food, supplies and news of the outside world (Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl). These protectors had placed themselves at great personal risk because they could have been arrested and jailed for helping Jews. All of these people worked at the business that had belonged to Mr. Frank. Meip Gies was the woman who saved the diary after the Frank's had been captured. Also, her husband Jan worked in the Dutch underground resistance. Meip co-authored a widely read personal story: Anne Frank Remembered.

After the Secret Annex

• The Arrest--Anne was never to have the opportunity to grow into full womanhood. On August 4, 1944, between 10:00 and 10:30 am, a German car pulled up before 263 Prinsengracht with a German officer, Karl Silberbauer, and several Dutch officials. They entered the warehouse, secured the building, and began a search that led to the bookcase that concealed the secret annex. The Franks had spent 2 years and 30 days in hiding, but now they were prisoners of the Gestapo.

• The saving of the diary--As the Gestapo men searched the annex for valuables such as money, the briefcase in which Anne kept her writings was opened and the papers were scattered on the floor. Little did these men realize the eventual value of these materials. However, the two women, Bep and Miep, had known of Anne's intense feelings about these papers and gathered them up for safe keeping.

• The concentration camps--At first, the members of the secret annex were sent to Westerbrook reception camp in Holland. At least the family members were together there, and were able to visit each other. But on September 2, they were herded into railway cattle cars, and taken east to the dreaded Auschwitz death camp, where the men and women were separated. Their heads were shaven, and the suffering was brutal. After some two months, on October 30, Margot and Anne were separated from their mother and Mrs. Frank died in the Auschwitz gas chamber. The two girls were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, along with Mrs. Van Pels who went with a separate group. At Bergen-Belsen the prisoners slowly starved, and typhus was rampant. All three women eventually died, either of starvation, sickness, or both.

• The survival of Otto Frank--At the gates of Auschwitz, Mr. Frank was separated from his family for the last time. In January, 1945, the German guards left the camp to the advancing Russian army. Most of the prisoners, including Peter Van Pels, were herded along with the troops, but Mr. Frank was in the camp infirmary and was left behind. Mr. Frank tried to convince Peter to hide in the infirmary, but he was afraid. Peter was never heard from again. Mr. Frank was taken to Russia, and from there, he returned to Holland after the war. He was the only one of the original 8 residents of the secret annex to survive. Mr. Van Pels died in the Auschwitz gas chambers and Mr. Pfeffer died at the Neuengamme camp in Germany.

• The road to publication--After Mr. Frank returned to Holland, Miep brought him Anne's diary. He was deeply moved by his daughter's writings. At first he made a transcription of the key portions of the diary for circulation to family members, but soon the diary came to the attention of key publishers.