Anne Frank's Story

"We aren’t allowed to have any opinions. People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but it doesn’t stop you having your own opinion. Even if people are still very young, they shouldn’t be prevented from saying what they think.”  

To mark the Holocaust Memorial Day, I wanted to write an article on a girl whose life was turned upside down during World War I. Her name was Anne Frank; here's her story:

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who went into hiding during World War I to avoid being captured by the Nazis. Together with seven others, she hid in the secret annex of her father's business in Amsterdam. After two years in hiding, they were discovered and deported to different concentration camps. Her father, Otto Frank, was the only one out of eight of them to survive. After her death, Anne Frank became world famous because of the diary she wrote while in hiding.

On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank’s parents gave her this diary. She was excited because she wanted something she could write her secrets in but within a month, her entire life changed. Anne’s adolescence was spent hidden away from the outside world. She lived in a tiny room and often heard gunfire and bombs. Although they had tons of reading material and a radio, she spent her time studying and writing. 

Anne became very close with a boy called Peter van Daan and she came to see Peter as much more than a friend. However, two short months after Anne’s fifteenth birthday, and two days after her last diary entry, they're discovered. No one knows Anne’s thoughts or feelings at that point or any time after, but we know things got worse.

Today, people from all around the world travel to Amsterdam (address: Prinsengracht 263-267, 1016 GV Amsterdam, Netherlands) to visit Anne Frank's house and see first-hand where she would have lived in during the war. Some day I hope to go to Anne Frank's house and walk up that tiny staircase leading to her room.

- Rebecca Eames [Principal Blogger]