The Story of Anne Frank 1929-1945
Ann Frank's Diary is now a world wide best seller.
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"One day this terrible war will be over. The time will come when we will be people again and not just Jews! We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. But then, we'll want to be" |
Ann Frank as a baby with her mother
Otto Frank and Edith Hollander are married in Aachen, Germany, in 1925. They give birth to Margo (1926) and Anne(1929).
The Franks are secular Jews and not particularly religious. Otto feels he is a German and fought in World War One 1914-18.
After World War One, Germany plunges into economic crisis and Hitler comes to power. The Jews are persecuted in Germany and the Franks decide to leave Germany for Holland.
"Because we are full blooded Jews, my father emigrated to Holland in 1933.He became managing director of the Dutch Opecta Company, which manufactures products used in making jam"
The Germans occupied Holland after war began in 1939. All Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps . The Franks had a close friend in Amsterdam who manufactured jam and had a large house in the centre of the city.
He disguised part of his house using a bookcase and made several rooms for the Frank family (all 8 of them) to hide in above the jam factory warehouse.
Like all Dutch houses in the centre of Amsterdam, they are in terraces and very high. No one from the outside knows how far back they extend.
The Franks lived above the warehouse and at the rear of the house. As the jam factory kept working they had to be silent during the day, not able to flush the toilet for fear of arousing suspicion below.
"We have to whisper and tread lightly during the day, otherwise the people in the warehouse might hear us" July 11th 1942
Anne Frank, a teenager, records everything in her diary which almost becomes an imaginary friend to her. When she writes each day begins with "Dear Kitty"
The family rely on scraps of food from friends and some days have nothing to eat.
Anne wishes to go outside and smell fresh air but that is impossible as the German army are rounding up Jews and sending them to concentration camps to work or be gassed to death.
"Countless friends and acquaintances have been taken off to a dreadful fate. Night after night, green and gray military vehicles cruise the streets. It's impossible to escape their clutches unless you go into hiding" November 19th 1942
The house shaded blue is their hide out
The House from the back
The right hand side of the diagram shows where they hid above the warehouse
The front of the house photographed February 2004
The canal outside the house February 2004
The jam warehouse 2004
Jews not allowed
All Jews had to wear a yellow star
The bookcase is still there Feb 2004
Part of Ann Frank's Diary
Ann Franks Bedroom then
And now!
The kitchen they used photographed Feb 2004
And a somewhat romantic museum postcard of " then" - enhanced by modern electric lighting and furnishings!
After years in hiding, the family were betrayed. No one knows who or why but all 8 of the Frank family and the people owning the jam factory were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
Anne's diary was left in the house and we have no record of what happened to her apart from German records from the concentration camps.
Anne Franks concentration camp card
The family were transported to Auschwitz Concentration camp for sorting.
"I can no longer talk about how I felt when my family arrived on the train platform in Auschwitz and we were forcibly separated from each other". Otto Frank 1979
Anna goes to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp with Edith
- Herman van Peis (the helper) was gassed in Auschwitz in September or October 1944
- Fritz Pfeffer dies sick exhausted on December 20th 1944
- Edith dies of diseases on January 6th 1945 Auschwitz
- Margot Frank dies of typhus and deprivation March 1945 in Bergen -Belsen Concentration camp
- Anna Frank dies of typhus and deprivation in March 1945 in Bergen-Belsen a few days after Margot
