Anne's Life.
On June 12, 1929, Annelies Marie Frank was born to parents Edith and Otto Frank, in Frankfurt, Germany. The Franks already had one older daughter, Margot, who was born three years earlier in 1926. The Frank family is often described as liberal Jews, as they did not consistently observe all of the traditions and customs of the Jewish tradition. Anne and her sister Margot were both often encouraged to read by their parents, specifically Otto Frank, as he was constantly in pursuit of new scholarly information and materials. The earliest years of Anne Frank’s life were the most simple, as she was still able to live the typical life of a young girl in Germany, not yet affected by the increase of Nazi control. In 1933, however, Hitler took control of Germany, and the Frank family moved to Amsterdam because Edith and Otto Frank are worried about both the Nazi control and their financial strains.
Otto Frank was able to find a new job in Amsterdam at a shop called Opekta Works that sold pectin, a fruit extract. Edith and the girls followed shortly, and moved into the apartment Otto had found in an area of Amsterdam called Merwedeplein. Both girls were immediately enrolled in school; Margot was enrolled in the public school while Anne attended Montessori. As Margot showed extreme promise in arithmetic, Anne was said to be much more focused on reading and writing. Unfortunately, in 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands and many laws were put in place in order to take away rights from the Jewish Population. One of these laws caused Anne and Margot to leave their schools and attend a Jewish Lyceum. While Anne was described as outgoing, energetic and outspoken, her friend Hanneli Gosslar once said that Anne was always shielding her writing from others. Even so, many made the observations that Anne was constantly found writing, even if she didn’t want others to read it.
A few years earlier, in 1938, Otto Frank began a new company called Pectacon, which sold items in wholesale such as salts, spices, and herbs. One of Otto Frank’s employees, Hermann van Pels, was a Jewish butcher who had also fled Germany with his family. As the restrictions on Jewish citizens in Amsterdam began to appear, Otto Frank feared that his company and his source of income would be taken away from him. Therefore, in 1941, he signed his shares of Pectacon to Johannes Kleiman. After that, the entire company and its assets were liquidated and transferred to another coorperation called Gies and Company, which was run by Jan Gies. Jan and Miep Gies both had worked in Pectacon as employees of Otto Frank, and they were both trusted greatly by the Frank Family. Because of all the restrictions and discrimination, Otto and Edith Frank try to move their family to the United States of America but unfortunately, their attempt to emigrate failed. At the realization that the family would most likely not be able to get out of the Netherlands, Otto Frank begins to come up with the plan for his family to go into hiding in the hidden annex of office building and begins to make the preparations.
Anne and her family go into hiding on July 6, 1942, when Margot is assigned to move to a German Labour Camp. At this point, the Franks decide that the dangers of living openly in the Netherlands are far too great and they move into the Annex in the back of the office now run by Miep and Jan Gies. About a week later, on July 13, 1942, Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels move into the secret annex, followed much later by Fritz Pfeffer in November. The space they are living in is much too small for eight people to live in comfortably, but they manage to stay hidden for two years with the help of four of Otto’s employees.
These employees, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, in addition to Miep Gies’ husband Jan and Voskuijl’s father, were the only people who knew about the Frank’s secret location. These people were considered the “helpers” throughout the time in the Annex. They would bring food, news of the outside, and any necessities those staying in the Annex may need. Even though each of these people were risking their own lives to help the Jews in hiding, they did everything they could to keep everyone’s spirits high throughout the difficult and dangerous times.
Even before entering into hiding, Anne Frank kept a journal, however, when she and her family went into hiding, her entries became much more frequent and detailed. Anne began writing in a journal when she received a red-and-white checkered cloth book with a small lock on the front from her parents. Before going into hiding, most of her entries described her everyday life, including many of the changes that occurred due to German Occupation. While in hiding, Anne continued to write about her everyday life, but those activities had changed drastically. Living with seven other people in such a small area, Anne often wrote about her relationships and interactions with the others.
Before Fritz Pfeffer had moved into the annex, Anne had a room all to herself, but when Pfeffer moved in, he moved into Anne’s room with her. After just a few weeks, Anne found him to be intolerable, describing him as selfish and intrusive. Anne also described him as selfish, especially when it came to food and time spent in the bathroom. Initially, Anne also had a difficult time with each member of the van Pels family. Auguste, the mother, was described as foolish and Anne found her extremely irritating, while she described the father, Hermann, as stubborn and selfish. Initially, Anne wrote about how much she couldn’t stand Peter van Pels, who was around her age. This changed dramatically though, as the two became close friends. This friendship then progressed to a romance, during which Anne received her first kiss from Peter van Pels. However, this romance and infatuation began to dissolve as Anne wondered whether the connection was somewhat forced due to their mutual confinement. One friendship that did remain, however, was the one she shared with one of her father’s employees, Bep Voskuijl. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, described that Anne waited with anticipation for Bep’s visits, and then when she would come “the two of them often stood whispering in the corner” (Prose 95).
In addition to Anne’s relationships with the others living in the annex with her family, Anne also described the evolving relationships she experienced within her own family. Anne’s relationship with her sister Margot became even closer than it had been before they entered into hiding, and on 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” (Frank 167). Anne’s relationship with her father also grew stronger, although the two had always been close. The one relationship within her own family that seemed to falter during the time in hiding was Anne’s relationship with her mother, Edith. Anne describes the extreme difficulties that occurred between the personalities of her mother and herself. When going back over her diary and revising much of it, Anne commented on some cruel things she had written about her mother, and wrote, “Anne, is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?” (Frank 157). After revisiting her writing from the past, Anne realized how many of the disagreements between herself and her mother hand been as much of her fault as her mothers and she began to treat her mother with much more tolerance and respect for the remainder of their time in the annex.
On August 4, 1944, German police, who were following a tip they had received from someone who was never identified, stormed the secret annex. All of the individuals living in this hiding place were taken to the Gestapo headquarters. There, they were held interrogated and held overnight until they were transferred to an overcrowded prison called Huis van Bewaring the following day. After a few days, the Franks, along with the van Pelses and Fritz Pfeffer, were transferred to the Westerbork Transit Camp. As a result of being arrested in hiding, they were all considered criminals, and were therefore sentenced to hard labor in the Punishment Barracks. While helpers Victor Kuglar and Johannes Kleiman were arrested for helping to hide Jews, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned but never detained. After being released from questioning, both women returned to the secret annex the following day and found all of Anne’s journal entries strewn across the floor. Miep locked all of these papers away in one of her drawers and resolved to save them all for Anne when the war was over. On the same day that the Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were sent to Westerbork Transit Camp, Miep Gies went to Karl Silberbauer, the SS officer who had led the raid and arrest, and bribed him to intervene, but he refused.
On the final transfer from Westerbork to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, the eight endured a three-day journey that began on September 3rd and ended with the men and women being forcefully separated at the entrance to the death camp. Anne had turned 15 three months earlier, and as a result was spared from the 549 passengers of the train that were immediately sent to the gas chambers. When Anne learned how many people had been sent to the gas chambers, she automatically reasoned that her father had been among that group.
However, all who had come from the secret annex made it through this first screening. Anne was taken with all the other women to be disinfected, where they were stripped naked, had their heads shaved, and then were tattooed with an identifying number on their arms. During the days, the Frank women, along with all the other women, were forced to do heavy labor, and then at nights were put into overcrowded barracks where disease was widespread. After a short amount of time, Anne was infected with Scabies, and both Margot and Anne were moved to the infirmary, which was consistently dark, damp and infested with rats and other rodents. In order to save food for her daughters, Edith Frank stopped eating herself and began sneaking food to her daughters through a small hole she created at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
During October of 1944, Anne and her mother and sister were chosen to be moved to Liebau Labor Camp, but Anne was not allowed to go, as she was still infected with scabies, so her mother and sister chose to stay behind with her. Later in the month, on the 28th, women were being selected to be moved o Bergen-Belsen. Anne, Margot and Auguste van Pelse were among those selected and were transported. Edith Frank was not selected, and was therefore left behind at Auschwitz, where she died of starvation not much longer.
At Bergen-Belsen, Anne was reunited with two of her childhood friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz. However, these girls were in a different section of camp so they were only able to have brief conversations with Anne through sections of fencing. Both Goslar and Blitz survived the war, and afterwards explained that they never saw Margot, who was extremely sick and too weak to leave the bunk. During one conversation, Anne told Hanneli and Nanette that she believed both of her parents had been killed and she therefore had no more desire to live. Later that year, in March of 1945, an epidemic of typhus killed 17,000 prisoners throughout the camp. During this time, Margot fell out of her bunk, and because she was in such a weakened state, was killed by the shock of the fall. Only a few days later, Anne died as well. Weeks later, on April 15, 1945, the camp was liberated by British troops, and the camp was burned in order to prevent the further spread of disease.
However, before the camp was burned, Margot and Anne were buried in a mass grave. Of the Frank family, Otto Frank was the only to survive, and upon returning to Amsterdam, he was informed of the death of his wife and two daughters. Back in Amsterdam, Otto Frank lived with Jan and Miep Gies. After learning that Anne had not survived, Miep gave the pages of Anne’s diary to Otto and he began his lengthy journey in attempt to get Anne’s diary published in order to allow the story and talents of Anne Frank to live on.
Otto Frank was able to find a new job in Amsterdam at a shop called Opekta Works that sold pectin, a fruit extract. Edith and the girls followed shortly, and moved into the apartment Otto had found in an area of Amsterdam called Merwedeplein. Both girls were immediately enrolled in school; Margot was enrolled in the public school while Anne attended Montessori. As Margot showed extreme promise in arithmetic, Anne was said to be much more focused on reading and writing. Unfortunately, in 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands and many laws were put in place in order to take away rights from the Jewish Population. One of these laws caused Anne and Margot to leave their schools and attend a Jewish Lyceum. While Anne was described as outgoing, energetic and outspoken, her friend Hanneli Gosslar once said that Anne was always shielding her writing from others. Even so, many made the observations that Anne was constantly found writing, even if she didn’t want others to read it.
A few years earlier, in 1938, Otto Frank began a new company called Pectacon, which sold items in wholesale such as salts, spices, and herbs. One of Otto Frank’s employees, Hermann van Pels, was a Jewish butcher who had also fled Germany with his family. As the restrictions on Jewish citizens in Amsterdam began to appear, Otto Frank feared that his company and his source of income would be taken away from him. Therefore, in 1941, he signed his shares of Pectacon to Johannes Kleiman. After that, the entire company and its assets were liquidated and transferred to another coorperation called Gies and Company, which was run by Jan Gies. Jan and Miep Gies both had worked in Pectacon as employees of Otto Frank, and they were both trusted greatly by the Frank Family. Because of all the restrictions and discrimination, Otto and Edith Frank try to move their family to the United States of America but unfortunately, their attempt to emigrate failed. At the realization that the family would most likely not be able to get out of the Netherlands, Otto Frank begins to come up with the plan for his family to go into hiding in the hidden annex of office building and begins to make the preparations.
Anne and her family go into hiding on July 6, 1942, when Margot is assigned to move to a German Labour Camp. At this point, the Franks decide that the dangers of living openly in the Netherlands are far too great and they move into the Annex in the back of the office now run by Miep and Jan Gies. About a week later, on July 13, 1942, Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels move into the secret annex, followed much later by Fritz Pfeffer in November. The space they are living in is much too small for eight people to live in comfortably, but they manage to stay hidden for two years with the help of four of Otto’s employees.
These employees, Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, in addition to Miep Gies’ husband Jan and Voskuijl’s father, were the only people who knew about the Frank’s secret location. These people were considered the “helpers” throughout the time in the Annex. They would bring food, news of the outside, and any necessities those staying in the Annex may need. Even though each of these people were risking their own lives to help the Jews in hiding, they did everything they could to keep everyone’s spirits high throughout the difficult and dangerous times.
Even before entering into hiding, Anne Frank kept a journal, however, when she and her family went into hiding, her entries became much more frequent and detailed. Anne began writing in a journal when she received a red-and-white checkered cloth book with a small lock on the front from her parents. Before going into hiding, most of her entries described her everyday life, including many of the changes that occurred due to German Occupation. While in hiding, Anne continued to write about her everyday life, but those activities had changed drastically. Living with seven other people in such a small area, Anne often wrote about her relationships and interactions with the others.
Before Fritz Pfeffer had moved into the annex, Anne had a room all to herself, but when Pfeffer moved in, he moved into Anne’s room with her. After just a few weeks, Anne found him to be intolerable, describing him as selfish and intrusive. Anne also described him as selfish, especially when it came to food and time spent in the bathroom. Initially, Anne also had a difficult time with each member of the van Pels family. Auguste, the mother, was described as foolish and Anne found her extremely irritating, while she described the father, Hermann, as stubborn and selfish. Initially, Anne wrote about how much she couldn’t stand Peter van Pels, who was around her age. This changed dramatically though, as the two became close friends. This friendship then progressed to a romance, during which Anne received her first kiss from Peter van Pels. However, this romance and infatuation began to dissolve as Anne wondered whether the connection was somewhat forced due to their mutual confinement. One friendship that did remain, however, was the one she shared with one of her father’s employees, Bep Voskuijl. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, described that Anne waited with anticipation for Bep’s visits, and then when she would come “the two of them often stood whispering in the corner” (Prose 95).
In addition to Anne’s relationships with the others living in the annex with her family, Anne also described the evolving relationships she experienced within her own family. Anne’s relationship with her sister Margot became even closer than it had been before they entered into hiding, and on 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” (Frank 167). Anne’s relationship with her father also grew stronger, although the two had always been close. The one relationship within her own family that seemed to falter during the time in hiding was Anne’s relationship with her mother, Edith. Anne describes the extreme difficulties that occurred between the personalities of her mother and herself. When going back over her diary and revising much of it, Anne commented on some cruel things she had written about her mother, and wrote, “Anne, is it really you who mentioned hate, oh Anne, how could you?” (Frank 157). After revisiting her writing from the past, Anne realized how many of the disagreements between herself and her mother hand been as much of her fault as her mothers and she began to treat her mother with much more tolerance and respect for the remainder of their time in the annex.
On August 4, 1944, German police, who were following a tip they had received from someone who was never identified, stormed the secret annex. All of the individuals living in this hiding place were taken to the Gestapo headquarters. There, they were held interrogated and held overnight until they were transferred to an overcrowded prison called Huis van Bewaring the following day. After a few days, the Franks, along with the van Pelses and Fritz Pfeffer, were transferred to the Westerbork Transit Camp. As a result of being arrested in hiding, they were all considered criminals, and were therefore sentenced to hard labor in the Punishment Barracks. While helpers Victor Kuglar and Johannes Kleiman were arrested for helping to hide Jews, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl were questioned but never detained. After being released from questioning, both women returned to the secret annex the following day and found all of Anne’s journal entries strewn across the floor. Miep locked all of these papers away in one of her drawers and resolved to save them all for Anne when the war was over. On the same day that the Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were sent to Westerbork Transit Camp, Miep Gies went to Karl Silberbauer, the SS officer who had led the raid and arrest, and bribed him to intervene, but he refused.
On the final transfer from Westerbork to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, the eight endured a three-day journey that began on September 3rd and ended with the men and women being forcefully separated at the entrance to the death camp. Anne had turned 15 three months earlier, and as a result was spared from the 549 passengers of the train that were immediately sent to the gas chambers. When Anne learned how many people had been sent to the gas chambers, she automatically reasoned that her father had been among that group.
However, all who had come from the secret annex made it through this first screening. Anne was taken with all the other women to be disinfected, where they were stripped naked, had their heads shaved, and then were tattooed with an identifying number on their arms. During the days, the Frank women, along with all the other women, were forced to do heavy labor, and then at nights were put into overcrowded barracks where disease was widespread. After a short amount of time, Anne was infected with Scabies, and both Margot and Anne were moved to the infirmary, which was consistently dark, damp and infested with rats and other rodents. In order to save food for her daughters, Edith Frank stopped eating herself and began sneaking food to her daughters through a small hole she created at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
During October of 1944, Anne and her mother and sister were chosen to be moved to Liebau Labor Camp, but Anne was not allowed to go, as she was still infected with scabies, so her mother and sister chose to stay behind with her. Later in the month, on the 28th, women were being selected to be moved o Bergen-Belsen. Anne, Margot and Auguste van Pelse were among those selected and were transported. Edith Frank was not selected, and was therefore left behind at Auschwitz, where she died of starvation not much longer.
At Bergen-Belsen, Anne was reunited with two of her childhood friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz. However, these girls were in a different section of camp so they were only able to have brief conversations with Anne through sections of fencing. Both Goslar and Blitz survived the war, and afterwards explained that they never saw Margot, who was extremely sick and too weak to leave the bunk. During one conversation, Anne told Hanneli and Nanette that she believed both of her parents had been killed and she therefore had no more desire to live. Later that year, in March of 1945, an epidemic of typhus killed 17,000 prisoners throughout the camp. During this time, Margot fell out of her bunk, and because she was in such a weakened state, was killed by the shock of the fall. Only a few days later, Anne died as well. Weeks later, on April 15, 1945, the camp was liberated by British troops, and the camp was burned in order to prevent the further spread of disease.
However, before the camp was burned, Margot and Anne were buried in a mass grave. Of the Frank family, Otto Frank was the only to survive, and upon returning to Amsterdam, he was informed of the death of his wife and two daughters. Back in Amsterdam, Otto Frank lived with Jan and Miep Gies. After learning that Anne had not survived, Miep gave the pages of Anne’s diary to Otto and he began his lengthy journey in attempt to get Anne’s diary published in order to allow the story and talents of Anne Frank to live on.