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The Holocaust: The Diary Of Anne Frank

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Anne Frank, the writer of the diary first begins writing on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. The diary was the most famous personal account of the Holocaust. The diary of Anne Frank was written in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Anne and her family were a Jewish family, originally from Germany. The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading up to World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced into hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel whom was a dentist, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Frank’s office where they had stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from …show more content…

Anne Frank’s diary was written during the years of her adolescence. She struggled with many typical teenage problems, learning of her own space away for her own identity in an enclosed space with little privacy. Anne Frank had started dealing with her own identity as soon as she had to go into hiding with her family. Anne had started questioning herself over and over about the type of person she is: How should I feel about those who are outside, suffering? Am I selfish? What does it mean that Germans despise me simply because I am a Jew? Even though Anne finds no answers to any of her questions of herself, she uses them to define who she is and who she wants to be. Anne’s exposure to the question of Jewish consciousness comes mostly through her discussions with young men. As in when Peter Van Daan tells Anne that when the war is over, he intends to keep his Jewish heritage a secret. Anne is different and stuck in between showing whom she is through her heritage or hide just as Peter plans …show more content…

Anne writes her first entry and says “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” (Frank, 1995, p. 1) at the time, she feels that she does not have any true friends or people, which makes her feel lonely and misunderstood. Having a diary, which she addresses as “Kitty,” like a friend, then enables her to express her thoughts without fear of being criticized by others. Anne’s relationship with her diary helps comfort her through her insecure, lonely, and fearful time in hiding. Even though Anne does feel bad but insists on trying to remain cheerful. “I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.” (Frank, 1995, p. 332) This is Anne Frank’s last diary entry, written on August 1, 1944. Anne does not intend to end her diary at this point: to her, it is just the end of a regular day of hiding in the annex. This turns out to be her last entry because the Germans arrest her and her family just three days

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