Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl

I’m now reading The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank. If you haven’t read it, you’ll probably be forced to eventually. Anne’s family had to go into hiding during the Holocaust, so they stayed with another family in a place called the “Secret Annexe” from 1942 to 1944. It’s amazing how thoughtful a self-described “thirteen-year old schoolgirl” can be. (Imagine that – she was around my age when she was there and when she wrote all this.) What happens is that she’s a normal girl, living the good life, all the sudden the Germans come in and gradually take away their freedom, then things get so bad that the Jews have to go into hiding – or else the Nazis will get them and take them away to concentration camps. The Franks are being helped by non-Jewish friends of the family, who bring them food and supplies and try to keep the “Secret Annexe” secret.

As one can imagine, seven (later eight) people cooped up in a small space for two years will get into a lot of fights. Anne mentions these fights frequently. They’re usually between the Franks and the other family. And to add to that, there is the constant threat of discovery by the Nazis that keeps them under pressure.

One wonders what kinds of things Anne would have written in that diary if the Holocaust had never happened. I doubt that it would be very well-known – I mean, who wants to read some schoolgirl’s diary? Well, this schoolgirl’s diary has been called “a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.” (That was off this publication’s back cover, by the way.) Is it really all that?

I think so. For being written by a “thirteen-year old schoolgirl,” this is an amazing work.