marielle.sabbag

ANNE FRANK



 The person that I researched for my project is Anne Frank. The reason that I chose Anne frank is because she was a really brave teenage girl. Anne grew up mostly during the holocaust and World War 2. Even though Anne’s life was short she still had a fun yet suspenseful life because of the Holocaust and when she and her family were captured by the Nazi’s. Sometimes during hiding, life was frustrating and frightening with eight people, such as her family, the Van Daan family, and friend Fritz Pfeiffer. Anne also kept a diary while in hiding which makes her life famous today. It tells people what life was like for the Jews during World War 2 and the holocaust from a teenager’s perspective.

Annelies Marie Frank was born on July 12th 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. The members of her family were Otto Frank, her father, Edith Frank, her mother, and Margot Frank, her older sister. Anne was the youngest of her family. She was really close with her dad and her grandmother. She never got along with her mother and had many fights. In 1933, the Franks moved to Amsterdam to get away from the Nazi Party in Germany. During those years there, Anne made a lot of catholic friends. Her best friends were Lies Goosens and Sanne Houtman. When Anne grew up she really wanted to be an author.

Anne Frank's Family

Anne was a lovely and happy girl with curly black hair and she loved to talk and sometimes she talked nonstop. Anne was always interested in riding her bike home from school with a boy. She sometimes had a lot of fights with people especially her mother. But other than that Anne loved her life so much. She was never married and never had any children, but it was said that she and Peter Van Daan had a relationship while in hiding. She was also very self confident in herself.

In 1942 Anne turned thirteen years old. Her father gave her a red striped diary for her birthday, and she immediately started writing in it. She put a picture of herself in on the first page. The Nazi party and World War 2 was starting to enter the Netherlands. Planes dropped bombs in the Amsterdam area. Anne was always afraid of them and ran straight to her dad when she was afraid. On July 5th 1942, Margot Frank got a letter to report to a transit camp. This persuaded the family to go into hiding. The only thing that Anne had to say goodbye to was her pet cat Moortgi and then leave with a bundle of stuff. Her father’s business workers, Meip Gies, Mr. Koophius, Mr. Kraler, and Elli Vosen all agreed to keep them safe and set up their hideout. On July 6th 1942, the Franks went into hiding in a small building. The Franks had company with them also, Jewish friends Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan and their son Peter. About a month later, another friend, Fritz Pfeiffer, joined them. In all their were eight people living in the small, cramped attic above a business building on the street level. None of them had any privacy.



A page from Anne’s diary

As months and years went by, the eight people lived in secrecy. They put a bookcase in front of the door where they were hiding and lived in darkness and silence mostly during the day time hours. Anne spent most of her time writing in her diary. The adults in the annex fought constantly and sometimes the fights were about Anne. They fought about Anne because she was loud and Mrs. Van Daan thought that she didn’t act like a girl. Anne had tons of fights with her mother, sister, and Mrs. Van Daan. She mostly got along with Peter Van Daan, and they formed a bond with each other. They stayed quiet during the days, but were able to move about and speak more freely during the evening. One thing that Anne enjoyed was peeking out the windows to look outside. Even though she wasn’t supposed to pull back the drapes at all she still enjoyed doing it. As the years went by, Anne started getting used to everyone and wrote even more in her diary.

On the morning of August 4**th** 1944 the eight people living in the annex were betrayed at 10:30 in the morning. They had to give their valuables away to the Nazi’s and were given five minutes to pack their things. The caretakers were so depressed when they saw the Franks, Van Daan’s and Pfeiffer get in the truck and drive away. It is believed that a woman named Lena Hartog Van Bladeron betrayed them telling the Nazi’s their location.

They were then held prisoner with other Jews in Westerbork Camp in Poland. While they were there they had to cut open batteries. Then they all loaded in a very crowded train and took a three day trip to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Anne couldn’t even sit down without being trampled by other people. There was no air and the smell was terrible. Anne had to breathe through little holes in the train to get air. Once they got to Auschwitz Anne was separated from her father. Anne was now with her mother, sister, and Mrs. Van Daan. Otto Frank would never forget the scared look in Anne and Margot’s eyes when he was torn apart. That was the last time he ever saw his family. The family’s heads were shaved. They had to get rid of their jewelry and strip naked. Being fifteen saved Anne’s life when she was about to go into the gas chamber. Months in Auschwitz were depressing times for Anne. There was little food and water. Anne was put into a dark room along with Margot because their skin had scabies. Their mother dug a hole in the ground and passed her children food through it. Anne, Margot, and Mrs. Van Daan were suddenly picked during roll call and were taken away to Bergen Belson Concentration Camp leaving her mother behind at Auschwitz, where she died from starvation on January 6th 1945. It was a three day train ride to Bergen Belson Concentration Camp. Once at Bergen Belson Anne saw many differences then Auschwitz. There was no food, no water, no roll call, and no gas chambers. Anne met up with her friends Leis and Sanne while she was there. Anne talked to Lies on the other side of the fence in Bergen Belson and Lies threw Anne food from her side. As time went on everybody in the camp came down with the typhus epidemic. Margot was suffering from the typhus epidemic and was dying. Anne didn’t want to her to die because she didn’t want to be alone in the world after. Margot died from the shock when she fell from her bed one morning, she was only nineteen years old. Anne didn’t know of her sister’s death until three days later. Anne died peacefully from the typhus epidemic shortly after that in March of 1945. She was only fifteen years old.

Two weeks later all the camps were liberated. Otto Frank’s camp was liberated by Russians. Otto Frank knew of everybody else’s death but not his two daughters. He was told everything by Anne’s friend Lies. Otto returned to Amsterdam and was greeted by all the caretakers. He told them that none of his family members or friends were coming back. Meip Gies gave him Anne’s diary that she had rescued from the hideout. Otto had no idea that Anne was writing about everything while in hiding and the diary made him very pleased. In 1947 Anne’s diary was published and translated into many languages. Anne’s life was turned into movies and Broadway musicals. Today the Annex is open to people and the school she attended was named after her. Anne and Margot’s gravesites are near Bergen Belson Concentration Camp. Kids today can read her diary and see how her life was like during WW2. Meip Gies is still alive today and still remembers the whole story. Otto Frank died on August 19**th** 1980 at age ninety one. By making her diary public, he made all of Anne’s wishes come true. She became an author and she became famous after her death. Her story is still being read by teenagers, and adults and Jews. After the holocaust, Anne’s story made people aware of how life in World war 2 and the holocaust was like. Even though not many people were nice, she wrote “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at spirit.”



Bibilography

Auther - Anne Frank Title - The diary of Anne Frank Place of Publication - U.S and Canada Publishing Company - Random Inc. Year of publication - 1952

Title of Article - Anne Frank Title of encyclypedia - Annefrank.org Publishing company - Anne Frank Organisation year of publication - 2000

Auther's name - Amelia Swoop Title - Girls who rocked the World place - Scholastic Inc. Company - Beyond Words pub. Inc. Year published - 1998

Wikipedia.com Anne Frank year - 2000

biographyshelf.com Anne Frank Year - 1999