Themes/Main Ideas

Coming of age/Identity

Although usually hailed as an important historical document on the Holocaust, the diary is equally important as an account of a young girl who grows into a young woman. Anne often writes about her identity as a woman and a Jew. During the two years spent in the secret annex, she analyses herself and her relationships with the people around her. Gradually, she becomes more perceptive, sympathetic, and welcoming of others’ views. She yearns to be an independent woman, not just a homemaker. She questions identities based on simplistic binaries, including identities based on nationality. For a girl her age, Anne raises important philosophical questions and gives the reader a lot to think about.

Human Nature

Anne spends two years in close quarters in a group of eight people and meticulously describes their habits and manners. She witnesses and appreciates the benevolence of their “protectors,” without whose help the group wouldn’t have been able to sustain itself. Despite the tensions of the outside world, the protectors go an extra mile to help the group. At the same time, there are people like Dr. Dussel—selfish and self-consumed. She writes extensively about the goodness of her father, who is always eager to help and willing to keep the group’s spirits high. In fact, Anne expresses her desire to be more like her father: compassionate, caring, selfless, and optimistic. Then there are the politicians, who, for their personal gains, are creating havoc in so many lives. In this troubled and horrific context, the diary mirrors the many aspects of human nature.

War and Suffering

Written against the backdrop of the Holocaust, the text is a philosophical commentary on the futility of war and the suffering it causes. The Franks had to shift countries owing to the increase in anti-Jewish sentiment and laws after Hitler’s rise to power. Many other Jewish families, too, had to live in constant fear and uncertainty. War, as Anne rightly mentions, is a waste of resources. It consumes resources that could well be diverted to more important causes, such as education. Starvation was widespread. Families were separated, and separated members usually endured horrific ends, either due to hunger or illness. Those in power and those with political leverage fabricate hatred among the people, leading to misery. The diary, by showing the hardship of one family in hiding, comments on the large-scale suffering caused due to the Second World War.