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Many readers first meet Anne Frank's diary at school, as a set text or a history lesson, and some never return to it. That is worth reconsidering. Read as an adult, or simply read on your own terms, "The Diary of a Young Girl" is not only a document of the Holocaust. It is the work of a sharp, funny, self-critical young writer who took her own words seriously, and who began revising them with a book in mind.
This article covers who Anne Frank was, how the diary began, and why it repays reading. It does not quote the diary itself; her words are best met on the page.
Who wrote it, and when
Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the younger daughter of Otto and Edith Frank; her older sister was Margot. As antisemitism rose in Germany, Otto moved to Amsterdam in 1933, and the family was together there by February 1934. He went to work for Opekta, a company selling pectin.
In May 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands. The occupying authorities began to persecute Jews through discriminatory laws, with registration and segregation soon following. From the summer of 1941 Anne had to leave her Montessori school, because Jewish children were required to attend Jewish schools.
The diary was published in Dutch on 25 June 1947 by Contact in Amsterdam, under the title "Het Achterhuis" ("The Annex"), a title Anne herself had chosen. The first English translation, "The Diary of a Young Girl," appeared in 1952. The diary has since been published in more than 75 languages, according to the Anne Frank House, and in 2009 the original notebooks were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
How the diary began
For her thirteenth birthday, on 12 June 1942, Anne received an autograph book with a red-and-white checked cover. She decided to use it as a diary and began writing in earnest on 14 June. At this point she was not yet in hiding. She was a schoolgirl in occupied Amsterdam, and within a week she was recording the many restrictions placed on Dutch Jews.
Less than a month later, on 5 July 1942, Margot received a call-up notice ordering her to report for a work camp. The family went into hiding the very next day, 6 July, in the annex behind Otto Frank's business premises at Prinsengracht 263. Four more people soon joined them, making eight in all.
Much of the diary is written as letters to "Kitty." Kitty was not a real friend. According to the Anne Frank House, the name came from Cissy van Marxveldt's Joop ter Heul novels, which Anne loved, where Kitty is a cheerful, cheeky friend of the heroine. Those books were themselves written partly in letters, which may have shaped the way Anne chose to write.
The people in the annex were arrested on 4 August 1944. Anne died at Bergen-Belsen in February 1945. Of the eight, only Otto Frank survived the war, and it was Miep Gies, one of the helpers, who gave him the papers Anne had left behind.
What makes it worth reading
The first thing that strikes many readers is the candor. Anne writes about her moods, her frustrations with the adults around her, and her hopes for the future with an honesty that can be uncomfortable and often very funny. She does not read like a figure from a textbook. She reads like a person.
The second is that she was a writer, not just a diarist. Anne wanted to become a journalist. On 29 March 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a minister in the Dutch government in exile in London, spoke on Radio Orange about creating a public record of the Dutch people's suffering under occupation after the war, including letters and diaries. Anne took this to heart. From 20 May 1944 she began rewriting much of her diary as a book, under the working title "Het Achterhuis." As a result two versions survive: the original text she wrote for herself, and the revised text she prepared for readers. Knowing this changes how you read her. Many passages are not only a record but the work of an author shaping her material.
The third is the diary form itself. Each entry is written without knowledge of what comes next. History usually arrives as a timeline; here it arrives one day at a time, through the eyes of someone living inside it.
A practical tip: the entries are dated, so the book is easy to read a little at a time. There is no need to rush it.
Who will enjoy it
This book is for anyone who knows Anne Frank's name but has never read her words from start to finish. It suits readers who want to understand the Second World War and the Holocaust through one person's daily life rather than through statistics. It will speak to anyone who keeps a journal or wants to write, and it makes a meaningful shared read for parents and teenagers, since Anne herself was thirteen to fifteen as she wrote.
It begins with a birthday present in June 1942. Open it there, and let her tell you the rest.
Sources
- Anne Frank House, "Who was Anne Frank?" (born in Frankfurt am Main in 1929, going into hiding on 6 July 1942, the annex at Prinsengracht 263, eight people in hiding, arrest on 4 August 1944, death at Bergen-Belsen in February 1945, Otto Frank as the only survivor, the radio appeal on Radio Orange) https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/who-was-anne-frank/
- Anne Frank House, "So, who is 'Dear Kitty'?" (Kitty as a fictional addressee taken from Cissy van Marxveldt's Joop ter Heul books, and the possible influence of their letter format) https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/diary/so-who-is-dear-kitty/
- Anne Frank House, "Two versions of the diary" (rewriting from 20 May 1944 with publication in mind, the working title Het Achterhuis, the A and B versions) https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/diary/two-versions-annes-diary/
- Anne Frank House, "The publication of the diary" (Miep Gies giving the papers to Otto Frank, publication by Contact in Amsterdam in 1947, the title suggested by Anne, first print run, first translations, more than 75 languages) https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/diary/publication-diary/
- Wikipedia, "Anne Frank" (born 12 June 1929, the move to Amsterdam in 1933-1934, Opekta, the May 1940 invasion and anti-Jewish laws, the move to a Jewish school, Margot's call-up notice on 5 July 1942, the birthday autograph book, the 20 June 1942 entry on restrictions, the content of Bolkestein's broadcast, her ambition to be a journalist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
- Wikipedia, "The Diary of a Young Girl" (publication on 25 June 1947, the red-and-white checked autograph book, writing from 14 June 1942, Gerrit Bolkestein's London radio broadcast on 29 March 1944, the 1952 English translation, UNESCO Memory of the World in 2009) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl