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Anne Frank
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Cissy van Marxveldt[1]
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (pronunciation (help?info)) (June 12, 1929?early March 1945) was a Jewish girl born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933 after the Nazis gained power in Germany, and were trapped by the occupation of the Netherlands, which began in 1940. As persecutions against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, within days of the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father Otto, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl.

The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from June 12, 1942 until August 1, 1944. It has been translated into many languages, has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films. Anne Frank has been acknowledged for the quality of her writing, and has become one of the most renowned and most discussed victims of the Holocaust.

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Weimar Germany, the second daughter of Otto Frank (1889?1980) and Edith Holl?nder (1900?45). Margot Frank (1926?45) was her elder sister.[2] The Franks were liberal Jews and lived in an assimilated community of Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, where the children grew up with Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish friends. The Frank family did not observe all of the customs and traditions of Judaism.[3] Edith Frank was the more devout parent, while Otto Frank, a decorated German officer from World War I, was interested in scholarly pursuits and had an extensive library; both parents encouraged the children to read.[4]

On March 13, 1933, elections were held in Frankfurt for the municipal council, and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party won. Antisemitic demonstrations occurred almost immediately, and the Franks began to fear what would happen to them if they remained in Germany. Later that year, Edith and the children went to Aachen, where they stayed with Edith's mother, Rosa Holl?nder. Otto Frank remained in Frankfurt, but after receiving an offer to start a company in Amsterdam, he moved there to organize the business and to arrange accommodation for his family.[5] The Franks were among about 300,000 Jews who fled Germany between 1933 and 1939.[6]


The apartment block on the Merwedeplein where the Frank family lived from 1934 until 1942Otto Frank began working at the Opekta Works, a company that sold the fruit extract pectin, and found an apartment on the Merwedeplein (Merwede Square) in Amsterdam. By February 1934, Edith and the children had arrived in Amsterdam, and the two girls were enrolled in school?Margot in public school and Anne in a Montessori school. Margot demonstrated ability in arithmetic, and Anne showed aptitude for reading and writing. Her friend Hannah Goslar later recalled that from early childhood, Anne frequently wrote, though she shielded her work with her hands and refused to discuss the content of her writing. Margot and Anne had highly distinct personalities, Margot being well-mannered, reserved, and studious,[7] while Anne was outspoken, energetic, and extroverted.[8]

In 1938, Otto Frank started a second company Pectacon, which was a wholesaler of herbs, pickling salts and mixed spices, used in the production of sausages.[9][10] Hermann van Pels was employed by Pectacon as an advisor about spices. He was a Jewish butcher, who had fled Osnabr?ck in Germany with his family.[10] In 1939, Edith's mother came to live with the Franks, and remained with them until her death in January 1942.[11]

In May 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and the occupation government began to persecute Jews by the implementation of restrictive and discriminatory laws; mandatory registration and segregation soon followed. Margot and Anne were excelling in their studies and had many friends, but with the introduction of a decree that Jewish children could attend only Jewish schools, they were enrolled at the Jewish Lyceum.[11] In April, 1941, Otto Frank took action to prevent Pectacon from being confiscated as a Jewish-owned business. He transferred his shares in Pectacon to Johannes Kleiman, and resigned as director. The company was liquidated and all assets transferred to Gies and Company, headed by Jan Gies. In December 1941, he followed a similar process to save Opekta. The businesses continued with little obvious change and their survival allowed Otto Frank to earn a minimal income, but sufficient to provide for his family.[12]


[edit] Time period chronicled in the diary

[edit] Before going into hiding
For her thirteenth birthday on June 12, 1942, Anne received a book which she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-green plaid cloth and with a small lock on the front, Anne decided she would use it as a diary,[13] and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated June 20, 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.[14] Anne dreamed about becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters since January 8, 1941.[15]

In July 1942, Margot Frank received a call-up notice from the Zentralstelle f?r j?dische Auswanderung (Central Office for Jewish Emigration) ordering her to report for relocation to a work camp. Anne was told by her father that the family would go into hiding in rooms above and behind the company's premises on the Prinsengracht, a street along one of Amsterdam's canals, where some of Otto Frank's most trusted employees would help them. The call-up notice forced them to relocate several weeks earlier than had been anticipated.[16]


[edit] Life in the Achterhuis

Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the Secret Annexe, in the Anne Frank House in AmsterdamOn the morning of Monday, July 6, 1942,[17] the family moved into the hiding place. Their apartment was left in a state of disarray to create the impression that they had left suddenly, and Otto Frank left a note that hinted they were going to Switzerland. The need for secrecy forced them to leave behind Anne's cat, Moortje. As Jews were not allowed to use public transport, they walked several kilometres from their home, with each of them wearing several layers of clothing as they did not dare to be seen carrying luggage.[18]The Achterhuis (a Dutch word denoting the rear part of a house, translated as the "Secret Annexe" in English editions of the diary) was a three-story space entered from a landing above the Opekta offices. Two small rooms, with an adjoining bathroom and toilet, were on the first level, and above that a larger open room, with a small room beside it. From this smaller room, a ladder led to the attic. The door to the Achterhuis was later covered by a bookcase to ensure it remained undiscovered. The main building, situated a block from the Westerkerk, was nondescript, old and typical of buildings in the western quarters of Amsterdam.[19]

Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies, and Bep Voskuijl were the only employees who knew of the people in hiding, and with Gies' husband Jan Gies and Voskuijl's father Johannes Hendrik Voskuijl, were their "helpers" for the duration of their confinement. They provided the only contact between the outside world and the occupants of the house, and they kept them informed of war news and political developments. They catered for all of their needs, ensured their safety and supplied them with food, a task that grew more difficult with the passage of time. Anne wrote of their dedication and of their efforts to boost morale within the household during the most dangerous of times. All were aware that if caught they could face the death penalty for sheltering Jews.[20]


The house at the Prinsengracht in AmsterdamOn July 13, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Hermann, Auguste, and 16-year-old Peter, and then in November by Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of the family. Anne wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. After sharing her room with Pfeffer, she found him to be insufferable and resented his intrusion,[21] and she clashed with Auguste van Pels, whom she regarded as foolish. She regarded Hermann van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer as selfish, particularly in regards to the amount of food they consumed.[22] Some time later, after first dismissing the shy and awkward Peter van Pels, she recognized a kinship with him and the two entered a romance. She received her first kiss from him, but her infatuation with him began to wane as she questioned whether her feelings for him were genuine, or resulted from their shared confinement.[23] Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers and Otto Frank later recalled that she had anticipated their daily visits with impatient enthusiasm. He observed that Anne's closest friendship was with Bep Voskuijl, "the young typist... the two of them often stood whispering in the corner".[24]

In her writing, Anne Frank examined her relationships with the members of her family, and the strong differences in each of their personalities. She considered herself to be closest emotionally to her father, who later commented, "I got on better with Anne than with Margot, who was more attached to her mother. The reason for that may have been that Margot rarely showed her feelings and didn't need as much support because she didn't suffer from mood swings as much as Anne did".[25] Anne and Margot formed a closer relationship than had existed before they went into hiding, although Anne sometimes expressed jealousy towards Margot, particularly when members of the household criticized Anne for lacking Margot's gentle and placid nature. As Anne began to mature, the sisters were able to confide in each other. In her entry of January 12, 1944, Anne wrote, "Margot's much nicer.... She's not nearly so catty these days and is becoming a real friend. She no longer thinks of me as a little baby who doesn't count".[26]


The Secret Annexe with its light-colored walls and orange roof (bottom) and the Anne Frank tree in the garden behind the house (bottom right), seen from the Westerkerk in 2004Anne frequently wrote of her difficult relationship with her mother, and of her ambivalence towards her. On November 7, 1942 she described her "contempt" for her mother and her inability to "confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness", before concluding, "She's not a mother to me".[27] Later, as she revised her diary, Anne felt ashamed of her harsh attitude, writing "Anne is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?"[28] She came to understand that their differences resulted from misunderstandings that were as much her fault as her mother's, and saw that she had added unnecessarily to her mother's suffering. With this realization, Anne began to treat her mother with a degree of tolerance and respect.[29]

Margot and Anne each hoped to return to school as soon as they were able and continued with their studies. Margot took a short hand course by correspondence in Bep Voskuijl's name and received high marks. She also kept a diary, however it is believed to be lost. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition to providing a narrative of events as they occurred, she wrote about her feelings, beliefs and ambitions, subjects she felt she could not discuss with anyone. As her confidence in her writing grew, and as she began to mature, she wrote of more abstract subjects such as her belief in God, and how she defined human nature.[30] She continued writing regularly until her final entry of August 1, 1944.
Main article: Betrayal of Anne Frank

A reconstruction of the barracks in the concentration camp Westerbork where Anne Frank stayed from August to September 1944On the morning of August 4, 1944, the Achterhuis was stormed by the German Security Police (Gr?ne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified.[31] Led by Schutzstaffel Oberscharf?hrer Karl Silberbauer of the Sicherheitsdienst, the group included at least three members of the Security Police. The Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were taken to the Gestapo headquarters where they were interrogated and held overnight. On August 5, they were transferred to the Huis van Bewaring (House of Detention), an overcrowded prison on the Weteringschans. Two days later they were transported to Westerbork. Ostensibly a transit camp, by this time more than 100,000 Jews had passed through it. Having been arrested in hiding, they were considered criminals and were sent to the Punishment Barracks for hard labor.[32]
*** g93 4/22 pp. 3-4 Religion?s Role in Man?s Wars ***

Religion?s Role in Man?s Wars

?THERE has never been a people that did not have some form of religion,? says The World Book Encyclopedia (1970 edition). Yet, historians Will and Ariel Durant wrote: ?War is one of the constants of history.? Are these two constants, war and religion, somehow connected?

Indeed, throughout history, war and religion have been inseparable. Of Egypt, one of history?s first world powers, Lionel Casson explained in the book Ancient Egypt: ?The gods were given tribute for every military victory; and hungry for even greater wealth, the priests grew as eager as the pharaohs for further foreign conquest.?

Similarly, clergyman W.?B. Wright said of Assyria, another early world power: ?Fighting was the business of the nation, and the priests were incessant fomenters of war. They were supported largely from the spoils of conquest.?

Regarding what he termed ?barbarian Europe,? Gerald Simons wrote: ?Their society was a simple one, explicitly organized for one activity, the waging of war.? And religion was involved. ?Many legends tell of swords inhabited by demons, or acting as the agents of gods,? noted Simons.

Yet, the situation in the Roman Empire, which was considered highly civilized, was similar. ?Romans were bred to warfare,? explained Moses Hadas in the book Imperial Rome. Roman soldiers carried into battle standards that bore emblems of their gods. One encyclopedia observed: ?It was not unusual for a general to order a standard to be cast into the ranks of the enemy, to add zeal to the onset of his soldiers by exciting them to recover what to them was perhaps the most sacred thing the earth possessed.?

War and Professed Christians

The emergence of Christendom on the world stage did not change matters. In fact, Anne Fremantle wrote in the book Age of Faith: ?Of all the wars men have waged, none have been more zealously undertaken than those on behalf of a faith. And of these ?holy wars,? none have been bloodier and more protracted than the Christian Crusades of the Middle Ages.?

Amazingly, even today little has changed. ?Fighting and dying under religious flags go on with a violent persistence,? Time magazine reported. ?Protestants and Roman Catholics in Ulster trade killings in a kind of perpetual motion of futility. Arabs and Israelis stand tensely at borders of territorial, cultural and religious dispute.? Furthermore, ethnic and religious differences have been responsible for horrible massacres in the former republics of Yugoslavia, as well as in Asian lands.

Incredibly, professed Christians often go to war against members of their own faith. Thus, Catholics kill Catholics on battlefields. Catholic historian E.?I.?Watkin acknowledged: ?Painful as the admission must be, we cannot in the interest of a false edification or dishonest loyalty deny or ignore the historical fact that Bishops have consistently supported all wars waged by the government of their country. I do not know in fact of a single instance in which a national hierarchy has condemned as unjust any war .?.?. Whatever the official theory, in practice ?my country always right? has been the maxim followed in wartime by Catholic Bishops.?

Yet, that is not the maxim of Catholics only. An editorial in the Sun of Vancouver, Canada, noted: ?Protestantism in no way can claim to escape these forces of nationalistic divisiveness. It is a weakness of perhaps all organized religion that the church follows the flag .?.?. What war was ever fought in which God wasn?t claimed to be on each side??

Apparently not one! Protestant clergyman Harry Emerson Fosdick admitted: ?Even in our churches we have put the battle flags .?.?. With one corner of our mouth we have praised the Prince of Peace and with the other we have glorified war.? And columnist Mike Royko said that Christians have never ?been squeamish about waging wars on other Christians.? He explained: ?If they had been, most of the liveliest wars in Europe would never have occurred.? Notable among these was the Thirty Years? War in Germany between Protestants and Catholics.
Surely, the facts are all too evident. Religion has been a supporter and, at times, even a promoter of wars. Thus, many have pondered the questions: Does God actually favor one nation over another in time of war? Does he take sides when nations fight? Will there ever be a time when war will be no more?
For a copy of the book ?What does the bible really teach?? go to www.watchtower.org. you can also write to Jehovah?s Witnesses, 25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483.