The pain, legacy, and very personal record of the two years that her family spent in hiding while the Nazi regime made its ruthless killing of Jews during World War II are vivid in Anne Frank's diary. July 1942 propelled the Franks into the cramped attic above Otto Frank's office in Amsterdam, trying to avoid being taken by the Nazis while they were rounding up Jews for concentration camps. They were joined by the Van Daan family, creating extremely cramped quarters for the eight of them.
At first, Anne writes quite normally about fairly teenage things: high school friendships, crushes, academic troubles, and conflicts with her parents. After a while, though, her diary turns very dark and brooding, as reality crashes down on her. Anne is constantly afraid of their discovery and capture. The people had to keep silent during the day to avoid raising the alarm. They were not allowed to walk around or make any noise. The rationing of food was very strict and conditions were so overcrowded, there was no privacy. These unimaginable difficulties contrast vividly with the resilient Anne, radiant with hope and wisdom in her writing. She finds solace in nature, and she hangs on to the belief in mankind's intrinsic goodness and daydreams about a merry life once the war is over. This diary contains serious questions about identity, the growing up process, faith, and human nature—surprisingly incisive for a young teenager.
I felt anger and frustration within me at how an innocent young girl was robbed of her childhood and she was being put through such deprivation all because she was a Jew.
The mental strain of being so silent and living in fear is always inconceivable for me. How far all this emotional trauma has been inflicted on Franks then? My heart goes out to Anne, her family and all the victims—they showed extraordinary perseverance and courage in unimaginably difficult circumstances. Eventually, in August 1944, their hiding place was discovered, and the Franks were sent to concentration camps, where first Anne's mother, then Anne and her sister, died in early 1945, a few weeks before the liberation. Only Otto Frank had survived the Holocaust. I am deeply saddened and angered by this senseless tragedy: an exceptional young woman, Anne, had her life cut short by the worst of human cruelty and hatred. Yet her diary survives as the timeless testament of the human sou
l to keep cheer, dream, and retain humanity amidst inhumanity. Anne's empowering words evoke an atmosphere of empathy, compassion, and understanding in readers across generations. Her story stands representative of the millions who suffered and lost their lives in the Holocaust, and that it is necessary to fight racism, anti-Semitism, and discrimination in all its forms.
