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The Diary of Anne Frank: The Definitive Edition
Information from the Foreword
There are three main versions of the Diary: Version A, as originally written by Anne Frank; Version B, as edited by Anne Frank herself; and Version C, as edited and abridged by her father Otto Frank. Version C is the one that is best known; however, all three versions were published in The Critical Edition. This ‘Definitive Edition’ is for general readers that has been compiled by Mirjam Pressler from Version C, supplemented with approximately 30% additional material from Versions A and B as well as material from five pages that were discovered in 1998.
Among the most powerful accounts of the Nazi occupation, "The Diary of Anne Frank" chronicles the life of Anne Frank, a thirteen-year old girl fleeing her home in Amsterdam to go into hiding. Anne reveals the relationships between eight people living under miserable conditions: facing hunger, threat of discovery and the worst horrors the modern world had seen. In these pages, she grows up to be a young woman and a wise observer of human nature. She shares an unparalleled bond with her diary, which holds a detailed account of Anne's close relationship with her father, the lack of daughterly love for her mother, admiration for her sister's intelligence and closeness with her friend Peter. Anne Frank's account offers a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman who turns thoughtful and learns of the many terrors of the world.
There are three main versions of the Diary: Version A, as originally written by Anne Frank; Version B, as edited by Anne Frank herself; and Version C, as edited and abridged by her father Otto Frank. Version C is the one that is best known; however, all three versions were published in The Critical Edition. This ‘Definitive Edition’ is for general readers that has been compiled by Mirjam Pressler from Version C, supplemented with approximately 30% additional material from Versions A and B as well as material from five pages that were discovered in 1998.
Among the most powerful accounts of the Nazi occupation, "The Diary of Anne Frank" chronicles the life of Anne Frank, a thirteen-year old girl fleeing her home in Amsterdam to go into hiding. Anne reveals the relationships between eight people living under miserable conditions: facing hunger, threat of discovery and the worst horrors the modern world had seen. In these pages, she grows up to be a young woman and a wise observer of human nature. She shares an unparalleled bond with her diary, which holds a detailed account of Anne's close relationship with her father, the lack of daughterly love for her mother, admiration for her sister's intelligence and closeness with her friend Peter. Anne Frank's account offers a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman who turns thoughtful and learns of the many terrors of the world.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1947
About the author
Anne Frank
201 books5,518 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Anne Frank, a Jew of Germany, fled from Nazis to Amsterdam in 1934 and kept a diary during her years in hiding from 1942 until people captured her family in August 1944 and sent to concentration camps, where she died of typhus at Belsen; survivors published her posthumously in 1947.
Father of Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank, a girl, moved to the Netherlands in 1933, and the rest followed later. Anne, the last, came in February 1934. She wrote with four friends during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Anne lived with her parents and sister during the Holocaust in the attic of office of her father to escape. During that period, she recorded her life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
Anne Frank, a Jew of Germany, fled from Nazis to Amsterdam in 1934 and kept a diary during her years in hiding from 1942 until people captured her family in August 1944 and sent to concentration camps, where she died of typhus at Belsen; survivors published her posthumously in 1947.
Father of Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank, a girl, moved to the Netherlands in 1933, and the rest followed later. Anne, the last, came in February 1934. She wrote with four friends during the occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Anne lived with her parents and sister during the Holocaust in the attic of office of her father to escape. During that period, she recorded her life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43,974 reviews
April 5, 2012
Why do we write reviews?
You have a lot of reasons I guess.
But for this review there is only one. I am writing this for my conscience.
Ever since I have rated this book, I always end up asking myself that, have I rated it with something it deserved or was it just out of sympathy (some call it pity vote)?
Reading other reviews (although most people just rate it and proceed) posed me with many other questions and also gave me idea of what people generally think about her and her diary.
So I’m going to start with-
DO WE DESERVE to review or even rate thisbook diary?
Yes it is a diary not a book. And aren’t diary meant to be something personal? Yes they are, but it was Anne's wish to get her diary published and she even went on to fictionalize the diary by changing names.
When I started this book I knew how it would end and who doesn’t! I had the least of the expectation, knowing that she was 13 years old but she just surprised me by the outlook she carried of life. She thought and wrote over few such things that didn’t occur to my mind until I read it but have applied throughout my life.
She at times made me laugh, at times made me feel sad. If she felt something, her writing definitely made me experience it and thus she overcame my expectation by large margin.
I have read in lot of review that her thoughts were way ahead of her age.
Of course they were, difficult conditions make you mature and responsible, but there were also other people living under the same roof and in same condition, the suffering had even effect on them. I remember the letter exchange between two sisters, at that point after reading Margot’s letter, for the first time I realised Anne was still child among them.
Some say she could visualize herself and her thoughts and actions from different perspective and thus realise her fault.
The thing with diary is that it is a lopsided view of the events. She would write her thoughts and what she wrote of others were her interpretation of them.....I have it in my mind but can’t put it in words and why should I! Does it matter what kind of girl was she? 'NO’ from me.
Last thing that occur to me is that many people found it uninteresting and tiresome.
I liked it, it couldn’t get any better. I mean they were in hiding for their life in a same house for two years without even opening the window; they were not solving murder mystery. I remember that when I was halfway through the book, I would every now and then turn to the last diary entry and count the days that remained. I felt very sad and depressed and it would have been the last thing to occur to me that it was uninteresting; I was just taken by her wish to see the outside world again, feel the fresh wind and to go to school, but...
This is not a book to enjoy much; we read it to gain the insight of hardships that people had to go through during this holocaust. Through this book she give us best view of the worst of the world. No one has ever benefitted from war; all it gives is pain and misery.
All this being said there is nothing to review the book, but accept it as written account of the vices of the war.
The worst question that seemed to have been slapped across my face was: Would this book have meant the same if Anne had survived the holocaust and lived to become old? Would it have been famous as it is now?
Well she didn’t survived and with her ended answer to this question and no one can bring her back.
You have a lot of reasons I guess.
But for this review there is only one. I am writing this for my conscience.
Ever since I have rated this book, I always end up asking myself that, have I rated it with something it deserved or was it just out of sympathy (some call it pity vote)?
Reading other reviews (although most people just rate it and proceed) posed me with many other questions and also gave me idea of what people generally think about her and her diary.
So I’m going to start with-
DO WE DESERVE to review or even rate this
Yes it is a diary not a book. And aren’t diary meant to be something personal? Yes they are, but it was Anne's wish to get her diary published and she even went on to fictionalize the diary by changing names.
When I started this book I knew how it would end and who doesn’t! I had the least of the expectation, knowing that she was 13 years old but she just surprised me by the outlook she carried of life. She thought and wrote over few such things that didn’t occur to my mind until I read it but have applied throughout my life.
She at times made me laugh, at times made me feel sad. If she felt something, her writing definitely made me experience it and thus she overcame my expectation by large margin.
I have read in lot of review that her thoughts were way ahead of her age.
Of course they were, difficult conditions make you mature and responsible, but there were also other people living under the same roof and in same condition, the suffering had even effect on them. I remember the letter exchange between two sisters, at that point after reading Margot’s letter, for the first time I realised Anne was still child among them.
Some say she could visualize herself and her thoughts and actions from different perspective and thus realise her fault.
The thing with diary is that it is a lopsided view of the events. She would write her thoughts and what she wrote of others were her interpretation of them.....I have it in my mind but can’t put it in words and why should I! Does it matter what kind of girl was she? 'NO’ from me.
Last thing that occur to me is that many people found it uninteresting and tiresome.
I liked it, it couldn’t get any better. I mean they were in hiding for their life in a same house for two years without even opening the window; they were not solving murder mystery. I remember that when I was halfway through the book, I would every now and then turn to the last diary entry and count the days that remained. I felt very sad and depressed and it would have been the last thing to occur to me that it was uninteresting; I was just taken by her wish to see the outside world again, feel the fresh wind and to go to school, but...
This is not a book to enjoy much; we read it to gain the insight of hardships that people had to go through during this holocaust. Through this book she give us best view of the worst of the world. No one has ever benefitted from war; all it gives is pain and misery.
All this being said there is nothing to review the book, but accept it as written account of the vices of the war.
The worst question that seemed to have been slapped across my face was: Would this book have meant the same if Anne had survived the holocaust and lived to become old? Would it have been famous as it is now?
Well she didn’t survived and with her ended answer to this question and no one can bring her back.
January 23, 2008
I confess to feeling slightly voyeuristic while reading this. It was constantly in the back of my mind that this was no ordinary novel, or even a true-to-life account. This was someone’s diary. Every page written in confidence, each word revealing the thoughts closest to the heart of this young girl. As a journal-keeper myself, I sometimes find myself wondering, “What if someone else were to read this?” which causes me to wonder how much to filter my words. But then, isn’t the purpose of a diary or journal just the opposite? To record one’s honest and unfiltered thoughts? While reading Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl I do not get the sense that there is any such ‘filtering’ going on. From the ages of 12-15 Anne lived an extraordinary life, and quickly grew far beyond her years in her understanding and handling of a horrendous situation.
There are surprises in this book. No matter how broad or limited your understanding of the world events that threw Anne and her family into a life in hiding, I had – before reading this – held the general assumption that, “Well, it was wartime. They were in hiding for their lives. They must have been miserable all the time. Who could possibly find anything good or redeeming in the confines of such a life?” In hindsight, of course, I have had to reconsider. I found bits of beauty, kindness, and even humour popping up in the most unexpected places. And why shouldn’t I? Aren’t our lives much the same? Oh – we’re not dodging bombs and trying to sleep to the sound of gunfire (at least not in Canada). But we, each of us, are often faced with some sort of tragedy or travesty. Sometimes we may have an entire ‘bad year’, or longer. And yet, doesn’t the buoyancy of the human spirit always shine through? It is really tough work to be miserable 24 hours a day. No matter how difficult or challenged our day-to-day life, we all have those little pockets of joy that arise, and sometimes it is those tiny occurrences that make the rest of it bearable.
On a personal level, I found myself comparing Anne’s childhood to that of my parents. After all, she was only a year younger than my Mom and Dad. I think back to stories they’ve told from their teen years, and it boggles the mind to think that at the exact moment my Dad and his brothers were tipping a cow, Anne was in hiding on the other side of the world. At a time when my mother was discovering make-up, Anne was realizing that life would never again be so youthful, so joyous and carefree as before the war. A generation was losing its innocence, but in very different ways.
I would recommend Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl to absolutely everyone, for I believe that it holds some truth or enlightenment for everyone. I do not own this copy – it was borrowed from my daughter’s school library. She will be reading it next. She is 10. And you can bet that before long I will purchase my own copy, for I will be reading it again someday soon.
There are surprises in this book. No matter how broad or limited your understanding of the world events that threw Anne and her family into a life in hiding, I had – before reading this – held the general assumption that, “Well, it was wartime. They were in hiding for their lives. They must have been miserable all the time. Who could possibly find anything good or redeeming in the confines of such a life?” In hindsight, of course, I have had to reconsider. I found bits of beauty, kindness, and even humour popping up in the most unexpected places. And why shouldn’t I? Aren’t our lives much the same? Oh – we’re not dodging bombs and trying to sleep to the sound of gunfire (at least not in Canada). But we, each of us, are often faced with some sort of tragedy or travesty. Sometimes we may have an entire ‘bad year’, or longer. And yet, doesn’t the buoyancy of the human spirit always shine through? It is really tough work to be miserable 24 hours a day. No matter how difficult or challenged our day-to-day life, we all have those little pockets of joy that arise, and sometimes it is those tiny occurrences that make the rest of it bearable.
On a personal level, I found myself comparing Anne’s childhood to that of my parents. After all, she was only a year younger than my Mom and Dad. I think back to stories they’ve told from their teen years, and it boggles the mind to think that at the exact moment my Dad and his brothers were tipping a cow, Anne was in hiding on the other side of the world. At a time when my mother was discovering make-up, Anne was realizing that life would never again be so youthful, so joyous and carefree as before the war. A generation was losing its innocence, but in very different ways.
I would recommend Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl to absolutely everyone, for I believe that it holds some truth or enlightenment for everyone. I do not own this copy – it was borrowed from my daughter’s school library. She will be reading it next. She is 10. And you can bet that before long I will purchase my own copy, for I will be reading it again someday soon.
October 10, 2017
If only Anne Frank's diary was the figment of someone's imagination. If it meant that this spirited, intelligent and articulate girl hadn't died along with so many others in Belsen concentration camp, and that the holocaust had never happened, that would be a wonderful thing, but it did happen, and that makes the reading of this diary even more heartbreaking.
For a 13 year old girl, Anne was so articulate - the way she expresses her thoughts and feelings about herself and others is remarkable. She's able to analyse herself in a particularly honest way, her abilities, failures, weaknesses.
As Jews in Nazi occupied Holland, Anne and her parents and sister Margot, had to flee their home in Amsterdam to escape capture. From 1942 - 1944 they occupy rooms in an old office building, which they call 'The Secret Annexe'. Anne's diary details daily life within the confines of their safe house. They share the rooms with another couple and their teenage son and also with a former dentist. As can be expected, there were many disagreements, living in such close proximity to others, and even within their own families. Just a few of the office staff knew about The Secret Annexe, and these are the people who kept them supplied with food, but given the fact that everything was rationed due to the war, things became a bit fraught at times. The alternative however, didn't bear thinking about.
In August 1944, Anne's diary suddenly becomes silent. No more words will be written in its pages. Someone had betrayed them to the Nazis and they were arrested and transported to various concentration camps. The diary was left behind and was found by the office cleaner. After being interned in two concentration camps, Anne and her sister Margot were finally sent to Bergen-Belsen where they both died - Anne was just 15 years old. Only Otto Frank (the girls' father) survived, and the diary was returned to him.
This is one of those books where a silence descends on finishing it. How do you write a review? How do you do it justice? I honestly don't know. All I can think is, what a great contribution Anne would have made to an ugly world if she'd lived, her ambition was to be a writer, and yet, even in death, she HAS made a contribution by allowing us to share those two years in hiding with her, and giving us a chance to see what a beautiful soul she was. Feel so sad right now.
For a 13 year old girl, Anne was so articulate - the way she expresses her thoughts and feelings about herself and others is remarkable. She's able to analyse herself in a particularly honest way, her abilities, failures, weaknesses.
As Jews in Nazi occupied Holland, Anne and her parents and sister Margot, had to flee their home in Amsterdam to escape capture. From 1942 - 1944 they occupy rooms in an old office building, which they call 'The Secret Annexe'. Anne's diary details daily life within the confines of their safe house. They share the rooms with another couple and their teenage son and also with a former dentist. As can be expected, there were many disagreements, living in such close proximity to others, and even within their own families. Just a few of the office staff knew about The Secret Annexe, and these are the people who kept them supplied with food, but given the fact that everything was rationed due to the war, things became a bit fraught at times. The alternative however, didn't bear thinking about.
In August 1944, Anne's diary suddenly becomes silent. No more words will be written in its pages. Someone had betrayed them to the Nazis and they were arrested and transported to various concentration camps. The diary was left behind and was found by the office cleaner. After being interned in two concentration camps, Anne and her sister Margot were finally sent to Bergen-Belsen where they both died - Anne was just 15 years old. Only Otto Frank (the girls' father) survived, and the diary was returned to him.
This is one of those books where a silence descends on finishing it. How do you write a review? How do you do it justice? I honestly don't know. All I can think is, what a great contribution Anne would have made to an ugly world if she'd lived, her ambition was to be a writer, and yet, even in death, she HAS made a contribution by allowing us to share those two years in hiding with her, and giving us a chance to see what a beautiful soul she was. Feel so sad right now.
September 23, 2020
My intention of writing a review for this book is to tell all the negative reviewers to SHUT UP! I am all for everyone's right to express their opinion but I read a few of the '1 star' reviews and I was shocked to read what a few people had to say about this book. Before making an opinion I suggest people to keep a few things in mind:
1. This is someone's DIARY not a book meant to entertain people. If you think it was boring then answer me, how many interesting things can you possibly do locked up in a place for 3 years??
2. For those who comment on the writing-
This is a 14year old's diary!! She didn't write it with the intention of winning the pulitzer.
3.For those who commented on her ideologies or how nazism is portrayed.
Hello!! She was 14!!! And maybe..just maybe its justified to think the way she does considering she LIVED it unlike so many of us who get to sit back on our comfortable sofas and critically analyze every XYZ thing in the world.
I believe no one has the right to 'review' much less criticize a written document of a 14 year old's life who made it through the worst of circumstances and through difficulties we cannot even imagine to live through.
Its a pity some people think the way they do.
EDIT 27th Sep, 2013:
I never imagined I would garner so many likes for this review. This only means that a lot of people are emotional about this book and take negative reviews as a personal insult. I wrote this review in a very emotionally charged mind frame. A year later, now that I am older, wiser and more mature, I realise I could have used fewer exclamation marks. :P
EDIT 24th Sep, 2020:
It's been 8 years since I wrote this! I am definitely, older, wiser and more mature. And so, I would like to point out, that I do regret the explosive "SHUT UP" in my review, no scratch that, in my "rant". I guess such is life when you are young- angry & angsty. It's amazing though that despite the angry tonality, there is so much love pouring in the comments section! Thanks y'all. I shall continue my attempt to grow wiser as I grow older.
PS: Time for a re-read?
1. This is someone's DIARY not a book meant to entertain people. If you think it was boring then answer me, how many interesting things can you possibly do locked up in a place for 3 years??
2. For those who comment on the writing-
This is a 14year old's diary!! She didn't write it with the intention of winning the pulitzer.
3.For those who commented on her ideologies or how nazism is portrayed.
Hello!! She was 14!!! And maybe..just maybe its justified to think the way she does considering she LIVED it unlike so many of us who get to sit back on our comfortable sofas and critically analyze every XYZ thing in the world.
I believe no one has the right to 'review' much less criticize a written document of a 14 year old's life who made it through the worst of circumstances and through difficulties we cannot even imagine to live through.
Its a pity some people think the way they do.
EDIT 27th Sep, 2013:
I never imagined I would garner so many likes for this review. This only means that a lot of people are emotional about this book and take negative reviews as a personal insult. I wrote this review in a very emotionally charged mind frame. A year later, now that I am older, wiser and more mature, I realise I could have used fewer exclamation marks. :P
EDIT 24th Sep, 2020:
It's been 8 years since I wrote this! I am definitely, older, wiser and more mature. And so, I would like to point out, that I do regret the explosive "SHUT UP" in my review, no scratch that, in my "rant". I guess such is life when you are young- angry & angsty. It's amazing though that despite the angry tonality, there is so much love pouring in the comments section! Thanks y'all. I shall continue my attempt to grow wiser as I grow older.
PS: Time for a re-read?
March 17, 2023
Possibly the best personal diary ever.
Nazi occupation of Netherlands, 1942. Hidden in the secret upper annex of an office building with several other jewish people, Annelies Marie Frank was thirteen years old when she started writing Kitty, her personal diary. In it, she poured all her thoughts about life, love, and the daily life with her family and other refugees. The diary coming abruptly to an end in 1944, when everyone was discovered and sent to concentration camps, where she died of typhoid fever in 1945 at the tender age of fifteen.
I don't think this is a literary masterpiece by itselft, but it can very rightfully be considered one of the most historically relevant of its time. Through the simple and loving words of Anne Frank we get to know how she and her sister Margot, her parents Otto and Edith, Mr. Pfeffer and neighbors Hermann, Petronella and Peter Van Daan survived years of hunger, hardships and strained relationships hidden in precariously small living quarters with the constant threat of discovery and subsequent arrest or death. Vivid, thoughtful, tearing and touching words of a promising young lady that had much to say and live for and whose life was tragically cut short.
Anne can come off as a bit childish, and even bratty sometimes. But considering the circumstances, who wouldn’t feel a bit emotionally edgy after a few years of forceful confinement? (I’m looking at you Lockdown!). I remember Miep Gies very fondly, and my heart also goes strongly for Margot, who didn’t get to be as lucky as Anne, circumstances considering.
By all accounts, one of those visits one must make at least once in a lifetime. A powerful message on the resilience of the unbreakable human spirit, despite a world of cruelties and horrors happening all around it. Extremely Recommendable.
*** The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) is a fantastic adaptation. The plot more than reasonably faithful to the book. Aesthetic, acting and pacing very good. A little bit too long on the length for my taste, but the extra time is more than worth it. Millie Perkins playing possibly the most memorable version of Anne. Shelley Winters also gaining some very well deserved praise. And the ending! Gosh! That. Effing. Ending. Better have a pair of tissues ready. Highly Recommendable.
*** Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) is a great adaptation, with adequate pacing and decent acting. A very memorable performance by Ben Kingsley as Otto Frank and Lili Taylor as Miep Gies. This two-episode miniseries goes beyond the scope of the original book and adds some very powerful and heart wrenching scenes of the days of Anne and Margot at the concentration camp. Maybe not the most accurate or faithful to the book, but very interesting nonetheless, and terribly heartbreaking.
*** The Diary of Anne Frank (2009). I know I watched this adaptation but for some reason I don’t remember anything specific about it. I rated it 7/10 on my IMDB account so I’m assuming it must be good. Not very memorable though, apparently. I guess after watching more than three thousand movies sometimes memory gaps start to appear and this is clearly one of them. I’m not looking forward to rewatch it, pick at own risk.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1947] [283p] [Non Fiction] [Historical] [Extremely Recommendable]
["In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."]
-----------------------------------------------
Posiblemente el mejor diario personal jamás.
Ocupación nazi de Países Bajos, 1942. Escondida en el secreto anexo superior de un edificio de oficinas con varias otras personas judías, Annelies Marie Frank tenía trece años cuando empezó a escribir Gatito, su diario personal. En él, volcó todos sus pensamientos sobre la vida, el amor, y su vida diaria con su familia y otros refugiados. El diario llegando a un abrupto final en 1944, cuando todos fueron descubiertos y enviados a campos de concentración, donde murió en 1945 por fiebre tifoidea a la tierna edad de quince.
No creo que esta sea una obra literaria maestra en sí misma, pero puede ser muy justamente considerada como una de las más históricamente relevantes de su tiempo. A través de las simples y amorosas palabras de Anne Frank llegamos a conocer cómo ella y su hermana Margot, sus padres Otto y Edith, Sr. Pfeffer y vecinos Hermann, Petronella y Peter Van Daan sobrevivieron años de hambruna, dificultades y relaciones tensas escondidos en precariamente pequeños cuartos de vivienda con el constante peligro de ser descubiertos y el subsiguiente arresto o muerte. Vívido, profundo, desgarradoras y conmovedoras palabras de una prometedora jovencita que tenía mucho por decir y vivir y cuya vida fue trágicamente terminada antes de tiempo.
Anne puede parecer un poco infantil, ¡y a veces incluso malcriada. Pero considerando las circunstancias, ¿quién no se sentiría emocionalmente tenso después de años de confinamiento forzado? (¡Te estoy viendo a vos Cuarentena!). Recuerdo a Miep Gies muy afectuosamente, y mi corazón va fuertemente hacia Margot, que no pudo ser tan afortunada como Anne, considerando las circunstancias.
A todas cuentas, uno de esas visitas que uno debe hacer al menos una vez en la vida. Un poderoso mensaje sobre la resiliencia del inquebrantable espíritu humano, a pesar de un mundo de crueldades y horrores sucediendo alrededor. Extremadamente Recomendable.
*** El Diario de Anne Frank (1959) es una fantástica adaptación. La trama más que razonablemente fiel al libro. Estética, actuación y ritmo muy buenos. Un poco demasiado extensa en su duración para mi gusto, pero el tiempo extra más que lo vale. Millie Perkins haciendo tal vez la más memorable versión de Anne. Shelley Winters también ganadora de muy merecida alabanza. ¡Y ese final! ¡Dios! Ese. Maldito. Final. Mejor tener un par de pañuelos a mano. Altamente Recomendable.
*** Anne Frank: Toda la Historia (2001) es una gran adaptación, con adecuado ritmo y decente elenco. Una muy memorable actuación de Ben Kingsley como Otto Frank y Lili Taylor como Miep Gies. Esta miniserie de dos episodios va más allá del alcance del libro original y añade algunas poderosas y conmovedoras escenas de los días de Anne y Margot en el campo de concentración. Tal vez no la más precisa o fiel al libro, pero sin embargo muy interesante, y terriblemente desgarradora.
*** El Diario de Anne Frank (2009). Sé que vi esta adaptación pero por alguna razón no recuerdo nada específico de ella. La califiqué 7/10 en mi cuenta de IMDB así que asumo que debe ser buena. Aunque no muy memorable, aparentemente. Supongo que después de ver más de tres mil películas a veces aparecen lagunas de memoria y esta claramente es una de esas. No estoy interesado en volver a verla. Elegir a riesgo propio.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1947] [283p] [No Ficción] [Histórica] [Extremadamente Recomendable]
["A pesar de todo, todavía creo que la gente es realmente buena en el corazón."]
-----------------------------------------------
Nazi occupation of Netherlands, 1942. Hidden in the secret upper annex of an office building with several other jewish people, Annelies Marie Frank was thirteen years old when she started writing Kitty, her personal diary. In it, she poured all her thoughts about life, love, and the daily life with her family and other refugees. The diary coming abruptly to an end in 1944, when everyone was discovered and sent to concentration camps, where she died of typhoid fever in 1945 at the tender age of fifteen.
I don't think this is a literary masterpiece by itselft, but it can very rightfully be considered one of the most historically relevant of its time. Through the simple and loving words of Anne Frank we get to know how she and her sister Margot, her parents Otto and Edith, Mr. Pfeffer and neighbors Hermann, Petronella and Peter Van Daan survived years of hunger, hardships and strained relationships hidden in precariously small living quarters with the constant threat of discovery and subsequent arrest or death. Vivid, thoughtful, tearing and touching words of a promising young lady that had much to say and live for and whose life was tragically cut short.
Anne can come off as a bit childish, and even bratty sometimes. But considering the circumstances, who wouldn’t feel a bit emotionally edgy after a few years of forceful confinement? (I’m looking at you Lockdown!). I remember Miep Gies very fondly, and my heart also goes strongly for Margot, who didn’t get to be as lucky as Anne, circumstances considering.
By all accounts, one of those visits one must make at least once in a lifetime. A powerful message on the resilience of the unbreakable human spirit, despite a world of cruelties and horrors happening all around it. Extremely Recommendable.
*** The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) is a fantastic adaptation. The plot more than reasonably faithful to the book. Aesthetic, acting and pacing very good. A little bit too long on the length for my taste, but the extra time is more than worth it. Millie Perkins playing possibly the most memorable version of Anne. Shelley Winters also gaining some very well deserved praise. And the ending! Gosh! That. Effing. Ending. Better have a pair of tissues ready. Highly Recommendable.
*** Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) is a great adaptation, with adequate pacing and decent acting. A very memorable performance by Ben Kingsley as Otto Frank and Lili Taylor as Miep Gies. This two-episode miniseries goes beyond the scope of the original book and adds some very powerful and heart wrenching scenes of the days of Anne and Margot at the concentration camp. Maybe not the most accurate or faithful to the book, but very interesting nonetheless, and terribly heartbreaking.
*** The Diary of Anne Frank (2009). I know I watched this adaptation but for some reason I don’t remember anything specific about it. I rated it 7/10 on my IMDB account so I’m assuming it must be good. Not very memorable though, apparently. I guess after watching more than three thousand movies sometimes memory gaps start to appear and this is clearly one of them. I’m not looking forward to rewatch it, pick at own risk.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1947] [283p] [Non Fiction] [Historical] [Extremely Recommendable]
["In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."]
-----------------------------------------------
Posiblemente el mejor diario personal jamás.
Ocupación nazi de Países Bajos, 1942. Escondida en el secreto anexo superior de un edificio de oficinas con varias otras personas judías, Annelies Marie Frank tenía trece años cuando empezó a escribir Gatito, su diario personal. En él, volcó todos sus pensamientos sobre la vida, el amor, y su vida diaria con su familia y otros refugiados. El diario llegando a un abrupto final en 1944, cuando todos fueron descubiertos y enviados a campos de concentración, donde murió en 1945 por fiebre tifoidea a la tierna edad de quince.
No creo que esta sea una obra literaria maestra en sí misma, pero puede ser muy justamente considerada como una de las más históricamente relevantes de su tiempo. A través de las simples y amorosas palabras de Anne Frank llegamos a conocer cómo ella y su hermana Margot, sus padres Otto y Edith, Sr. Pfeffer y vecinos Hermann, Petronella y Peter Van Daan sobrevivieron años de hambruna, dificultades y relaciones tensas escondidos en precariamente pequeños cuartos de vivienda con el constante peligro de ser descubiertos y el subsiguiente arresto o muerte. Vívido, profundo, desgarradoras y conmovedoras palabras de una prometedora jovencita que tenía mucho por decir y vivir y cuya vida fue trágicamente terminada antes de tiempo.
Anne puede parecer un poco infantil, ¡y a veces incluso malcriada. Pero considerando las circunstancias, ¿quién no se sentiría emocionalmente tenso después de años de confinamiento forzado? (¡Te estoy viendo a vos Cuarentena!). Recuerdo a Miep Gies muy afectuosamente, y mi corazón va fuertemente hacia Margot, que no pudo ser tan afortunada como Anne, considerando las circunstancias.
A todas cuentas, uno de esas visitas que uno debe hacer al menos una vez en la vida. Un poderoso mensaje sobre la resiliencia del inquebrantable espíritu humano, a pesar de un mundo de crueldades y horrores sucediendo alrededor. Extremadamente Recomendable.
*** El Diario de Anne Frank (1959) es una fantástica adaptación. La trama más que razonablemente fiel al libro. Estética, actuación y ritmo muy buenos. Un poco demasiado extensa en su duración para mi gusto, pero el tiempo extra más que lo vale. Millie Perkins haciendo tal vez la más memorable versión de Anne. Shelley Winters también ganadora de muy merecida alabanza. ¡Y ese final! ¡Dios! Ese. Maldito. Final. Mejor tener un par de pañuelos a mano. Altamente Recomendable.
*** Anne Frank: Toda la Historia (2001) es una gran adaptación, con adecuado ritmo y decente elenco. Una muy memorable actuación de Ben Kingsley como Otto Frank y Lili Taylor como Miep Gies. Esta miniserie de dos episodios va más allá del alcance del libro original y añade algunas poderosas y conmovedoras escenas de los días de Anne y Margot en el campo de concentración. Tal vez no la más precisa o fiel al libro, pero sin embargo muy interesante, y terriblemente desgarradora.
*** El Diario de Anne Frank (2009). Sé que vi esta adaptación pero por alguna razón no recuerdo nada específico de ella. La califiqué 7/10 en mi cuenta de IMDB así que asumo que debe ser buena. Aunque no muy memorable, aparentemente. Supongo que después de ver más de tres mil películas a veces aparecen lagunas de memoria y esta claramente es una de esas. No estoy interesado en volver a verla. Elegir a riesgo propio.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1947] [283p] [No Ficción] [Histórica] [Extremadamente Recomendable]
["A pesar de todo, todavía creo que la gente es realmente buena en el corazón."]
-----------------------------------------------
July 8, 2021
"Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again."
I'm not sure if I can review this book properly. I started a few times before, but, it is just too difficult...I really wish I had skipped the Afterward section and read it sometime after. I don't recall being this sad after reading a book...
"Memories mean more to me than dresses."
"I once asked Margot if she thought I was ugly. She said that I was cute and had nice eyes. A little vague, don't you thing?"
From the very start, I found the style of writing to be very captivating, which could be hugely attributed to the fact that everything is completely genuine. As this was never intended to be shared with others, Anne does not hold back when it comes to confiding all her feelings, experiences and expectations in her ever trustworthy journal - Kitty.
"I've been taking valerian every day to fight the anxiety and depression, but it doesn't stop me from being even more miserable the next day. A good hearty laugh would help better than ten valerian drops, but we've almost forgotten how to laugh."
"Despite all my theories and efforts, I miss - every day and every hour of the day - having a mother who understands me."
In my opinion, one of the key ways this book can help all readers is by enhancing everyone's ability to empathize, not just with a teenager. Anne's experiences shine a special light on how much children suffer, due to them not being able to freely communicate or confide in others. One might say that it's just how it is with teenagers, and they'll grow out of it, but Anne's own statements contradict that - at least to an extent. When she revisits some of her earlier entries, though she regrets the fact that she feels much anger toward her mother, she never recovers completely, or finds it possible to completely forgive her. She still holds some contempt for not been able to make herself herd by her mother.
"I do my best to please everyone, more than they'd ever suspect in a million years."
"I soothe my conscience with the thought that it's better for unkind words to be down on paper than for Mother to have to carry them around in her heart."
"I continued to sit with the open book in my hand and wonder why I was filled with so much anger and hate that I had to confide it all to you."
It's heartbreaking to see how she suffered, when she dreamt of her friends and grandmother, and the way she kept it all together in the midst of all other difficulties. Even an adult would have had a hard time under similar circumstances. But for a child... and thousands of others who went through similar devastations...
"I was very sad again last night. Grandma and Hanneli came to me once more. Grandma, oh my sweet Grandma. How lonely Grandma must have been, in spite of us. You can be lonely even when you're loved by many people,"
"And Hanneli? Is she still alive? What's she doing? Dear God, watch over her and bring her back to us. Hanneli, you're a reminder of what my fate might have been. I keep seeing myself in your place."
If I didn't say something of some of the happy memories, it will be unfair to the book. Because, even when you take away the fact that everything in this book is genuine, the style of writing - especially for an 13 year old girl - is beyond amazing. The first half of the books is going to keep you laughing, for Anne relates the day-to-day events in such an amusing way. Most readers will find the series of events to be an emotional rollercoaster. It's amazing how well she manages to record everything, relating them to people, time of day, her own feelings and many more.
"Upstairs it sounds like thunder, but it's only Mrs. van D's bed being shoved against the window so that Her Majesty, arrayed in her pink bed jacket, can sniff the air through her delicate little nostrils."
"A few nights ago I was the topic of discussion, and we all decided I was an ignoramus."
"Dearest Kitty, Pim is expecting the invasion any day now. Churchill has had pneumonia, but is gradually getting better. Gandhi, the champion of Indian freedom, is on one of his umpteenth hunger strikes."
"Gandhi is eating again."
"You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to be a journalist, and later on, a famous writer."
Yes, she would've been an amazing writer. In fact, she already has become one. How cruel it is that the hopes and dreams of millions get destroyed because of the thoughtless actions of a few.
"We still love life, we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, and we keep hoping, hoping for...everything."
All I can hope is that she kept the hope kindled till the end and never gave up.
April 21, 2014
Honestly, I just can't do it. I can't bring myself to finish the book. Ive tried three times already, and each time I have been forced to put it aside. Books and film about the Holocaust are fascinating, but not this one. Unfortunately, I was not engaged and found I couldn't care less.
I'll have to try it again in a few years.
On the up side, I firmly believe that Anne Frank, had she survived the war, would have grown up to be a marvelous, best selling writer. At the age of 13 her words are better than that of many modern day, famous authors.
I'll have to try it again in a few years.
On the up side, I firmly believe that Anne Frank, had she survived the war, would have grown up to be a marvelous, best selling writer. At the age of 13 her words are better than that of many modern day, famous authors.
July 31, 2021
Het Achterhuis: Dagboekbrieven 12 juni 1942 - 1 augustus 1944 = The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.
The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only known survivor, just after the war was over. The diary has since been published in more than 60 languages. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوازدهم ماه اکتبر سال 2001میلادی
عنوان: خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده آن فرانک؛ مترجم شیوا رویگریان؛ تهران، میلادی، 1370؛ چاپ دوم 1372؛ در 318ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
عنوان: آن فرانک - خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آن فرانک؛ مترجم: رویا طلوع؛ در 327ص؛ ای.بوک
خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ ترجمه از هلندی بی.ام مویارت - دابلدی؛ مقدمه از النر روزولت؛ مترجم سمانه پرهیزکاری؛ تهران، انتشارات میلکان، 1396؛ در 340ص؛ شابک 9786008812548؛
عنوان: خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ مترجم ناصر عظیمی؛ با مقدمه النور روزولت؛ ویرایش احمد علیپور؛ تهران، تمدن علمی، سال1399؛ در 336ص؛ شابک 9786226310840؛
عنوان: خونهی پشتی؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ برگردان الهام دلاور؛ برگردان از متن انگلیسی ریچاردو کلاراونیستون؛ ویراستار محمدرضا مدنیبجنوردی؛ تهران، نشر جغد، 1397؛ در 375ص؛ شابک 9786009554912؛
عنوان: دفترچه خاطرات آنافرانک؛ نویسنده آنا فرنک؛ برگردان سعید گودرزی؛ تهران، بدرقه جاویدان؛ 1395؛ در 256ص؛ شابک9786005381122؛
یادمانهای «آن فرانک»، یادداشتهای روزانه ی یک دختر نوجوان «یهودی» است، که در تابستان سال 1942میلادی، در بحبوحه ی جنگ جهانگیر دوم، در وحشت از نازیها، مجبور شد همراه با اعضای خانواده اش، در شهر «آمستردام»، به زندگی پنهانی روی آورند؛ به مدت دو سال «آن»، و پدر و خواهرش، با چهار «یهودی» دیگر، در آن پنهانگاه به سر بردند؛ «آن»، یادمانهای خویش را در دفترچه ای، یادداشت میکرد؛ سرانجام نازیها، همه ی آنها را دستگیر، و روانه ی اردوگاههای مرگ کردند؛ از آن هشت نفر، تنها پدر «آن فرانک»، جان سالم به در برد، و در پایان جنگ، یادمانهای دخترش را منتشر کرد؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 29/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 07/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.
The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only known survivor, just after the war was over. The diary has since been published in more than 60 languages. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوازدهم ماه اکتبر سال 2001میلادی
عنوان: خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده آن فرانک؛ مترجم شیوا رویگریان؛ تهران، میلادی، 1370؛ چاپ دوم 1372؛ در 318ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان آلمان - سده 20م
عنوان: آن فرانک - خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آن فرانک؛ مترجم: رویا طلوع؛ در 327ص؛ ای.بوک
خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ ترجمه از هلندی بی.ام مویارت - دابلدی؛ مقدمه از النر روزولت؛ مترجم سمانه پرهیزکاری؛ تهران، انتشارات میلکان، 1396؛ در 340ص؛ شابک 9786008812548؛
عنوان: خاطرات یک دختر جوان؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ مترجم ناصر عظیمی؛ با مقدمه النور روزولت؛ ویرایش احمد علیپور؛ تهران، تمدن علمی، سال1399؛ در 336ص؛ شابک 9786226310840؛
عنوان: خونهی پشتی؛ نویسنده: آنه فرانک؛ برگردان الهام دلاور؛ برگردان از متن انگلیسی ریچاردو کلاراونیستون؛ ویراستار محمدرضا مدنیبجنوردی؛ تهران، نشر جغد، 1397؛ در 375ص؛ شابک 9786009554912؛
عنوان: دفترچه خاطرات آنافرانک؛ نویسنده آنا فرنک؛ برگردان سعید گودرزی؛ تهران، بدرقه جاویدان؛ 1395؛ در 256ص؛ شابک9786005381122؛
یادمانهای «آن فرانک»، یادداشتهای روزانه ی یک دختر نوجوان «یهودی» است، که در تابستان سال 1942میلادی، در بحبوحه ی جنگ جهانگیر دوم، در وحشت از نازیها، مجبور شد همراه با اعضای خانواده اش، در شهر «آمستردام»، به زندگی پنهانی روی آورند؛ به مدت دو سال «آن»، و پدر و خواهرش، با چهار «یهودی» دیگر، در آن پنهانگاه به سر بردند؛ «آن»، یادمانهای خویش را در دفترچه ای، یادداشت میکرد؛ سرانجام نازیها، همه ی آنها را دستگیر، و روانه ی اردوگاههای مرگ کردند؛ از آن هشت نفر، تنها پدر «آن فرانک»، جان سالم به در برد، و در پایان جنگ، یادمانهای دخترش را منتشر کرد؛
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 29/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 07/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
November 27, 2015
Maybe the first thing that most people would get shocked is that I rate with only 3 stars one of the best selling books of the 20th century (and now 21st century too) and even more, a book about the Holocaust.
First thing that I learned about this book is honesty.
Anne Frank teaches us all about honesty, about telling what you really think, and so I am doing the same.
For starters, I wonder how many people really, I mean REALLY read the book, because to rate with 5 stars a famous book that everybody tells you that it's a book that all people should read, and then they got in this commnunity for readers and maybe they feel the compromise to make the rest to think that you really read the book.
If not the case, hey, I don't see why anyone can be offended by this comment, and it's true, I don't see either anyone who will complain, since to me it would be only a defense mechanism behind their own guilt of really not reading the book but making the rest that they did.
I didn't think about this scenario but commenting about other thing with a reader friend, that thought stuck in my mind.
I invested so much time in that because, one has to be honest, the book is tedious since it's not really a novel, it's a collection of diary writings without a coherent line of constructing a story, even you need editors' further notes to know what happened to the people in the Secret Annex since obviously, Anne was unable to tell the final events.
So, since it's so tedious, I wouldn't be surprised that some reader tried to read it but at the end they just rated with 5 stars to denote that they are "cultured" readers that they appreciate the book as one of the most important books of the 20th century.
Between the passages, you learn a lot of things. The first thing that surprised me it's how this diary collection that it was written in the 40's, in Holland, by a teenage girl, almost anybody can relate to the comments and you don't feel them as outdated.
Sometimes if you read an "old" book, you sensed the outdated of the prose, selection of words, etc... but here I didn't feel it. This diary could be easily being written in present time and I don't think that it would change at all. I think that it was one of its strengths since I am sure that it will be as relevant for many more time.
Other thing that surprised me a lot was how much Anne Frank (and by association, the rest of the group in the Secret Annex) were informed about the events in the war, I know, they had a radio, but from stuff that I had read about WWII, there were certain elements of the information that people weren't aware.
I mean, at many moments, they denote a certainty that Jewish people were murdered in the extermination camps, of course if you call them "extermination camps", of course you know that people got killed there, but that's a term used by me, now, they called them labor camps, and so far I read, Jewish people really thought that they will receive "baths" when they were really gassed or burned to death, and it's kinda logical thing since if they were so certained about their deaths, there would be riots on the ghettos to flee in mass and they wouldn't march without protest to the gas chambers and the ovens. Even, Allied forces used espionage methods to know from Nazi prisoners what was happening to the Jewish people on the camps.
Anyway, also, there are elements like the assasination attempt to Hitler that they were aware that it was made by their own generals. I don't think that kind of stuff would be informed so easily since it was a clear fact of how divided was the opinions of the high ranking staff of the Third Reich.
I am not saying that the diary is not authentic as some dumb people commented that the Holocaust didn't happen.
The Holocaust happened.
It was real and we never forget that to avoid that it would happen again. I am just commenting that surprised me how well they were informed about key sensitive info of war events taking in account that they were a bunch of people living hidden for like 3 years in an isolated annex of a building.
I know, they got visits by the people that helped them but even so. I am not questioning its authenticity, just expressing my surprise when I read it. There were other things here and there that I was surprised by the use of terms like "diet: low fat", geez! I didn't know that in the 1940's they used terms like that in the 1980's were like the rush of "healthy food", but again, I supposed it's the effect that stuff that we think are new, they are just recycled and labeled as "new".
I am amazed that this book is banned in some schools, okay, there are comments relating to sex and sexual preferences, but so what? If a teenage girl from the 1940's can think about stuff like that while she was isolated with a war outside, don't you think that teenagers of today can think just the same?
I think that books like this one can help them to know that they are not alone, that they are not weird for thinking things like that, that was normal in the 1940s and it's normal now too.
I was amazed that the group tried to "live normal", I mean, kids making school work and so. I think that in such extraordinary circumstances, they needed to do extraordinary things like to make circles and to talk in group and hearing all about topics. I mean, they were like trapped and living together, really too close in the sense of physical space and yet, nobody cares about what Anne thinks or what she has to offer? Geez! Sure, they need to be really still and in silence, usually at day, but they should like making a "tribe", I don't know, I am babbling, but to try to live like regular families was evidently wrong for the sanity of their interrelationships.
What didn't surprised me were behaviors like trying to hide food or keeping money from the group. In times where the group work were essential to survive, the human selfishness risen as a second nature.
Resumming, I just want to explain that my rating is based on my "entertaining" experience while reading the book and the format of the book itself.
And this didn't have to do with my respect for the subject of the Holocaust and its terrible events.
First thing that I learned about this book is honesty.
Anne Frank teaches us all about honesty, about telling what you really think, and so I am doing the same.
For starters, I wonder how many people really, I mean REALLY read the book, because to rate with 5 stars a famous book that everybody tells you that it's a book that all people should read, and then they got in this commnunity for readers and maybe they feel the compromise to make the rest to think that you really read the book.
If not the case, hey, I don't see why anyone can be offended by this comment, and it's true, I don't see either anyone who will complain, since to me it would be only a defense mechanism behind their own guilt of really not reading the book but making the rest that they did.
I didn't think about this scenario but commenting about other thing with a reader friend, that thought stuck in my mind.
I invested so much time in that because, one has to be honest, the book is tedious since it's not really a novel, it's a collection of diary writings without a coherent line of constructing a story, even you need editors' further notes to know what happened to the people in the Secret Annex since obviously, Anne was unable to tell the final events.
So, since it's so tedious, I wouldn't be surprised that some reader tried to read it but at the end they just rated with 5 stars to denote that they are "cultured" readers that they appreciate the book as one of the most important books of the 20th century.
Between the passages, you learn a lot of things. The first thing that surprised me it's how this diary collection that it was written in the 40's, in Holland, by a teenage girl, almost anybody can relate to the comments and you don't feel them as outdated.
Sometimes if you read an "old" book, you sensed the outdated of the prose, selection of words, etc... but here I didn't feel it. This diary could be easily being written in present time and I don't think that it would change at all. I think that it was one of its strengths since I am sure that it will be as relevant for many more time.
Other thing that surprised me a lot was how much Anne Frank (and by association, the rest of the group in the Secret Annex) were informed about the events in the war, I know, they had a radio, but from stuff that I had read about WWII, there were certain elements of the information that people weren't aware.
I mean, at many moments, they denote a certainty that Jewish people were murdered in the extermination camps, of course if you call them "extermination camps", of course you know that people got killed there, but that's a term used by me, now, they called them labor camps, and so far I read, Jewish people really thought that they will receive "baths" when they were really gassed or burned to death, and it's kinda logical thing since if they were so certained about their deaths, there would be riots on the ghettos to flee in mass and they wouldn't march without protest to the gas chambers and the ovens. Even, Allied forces used espionage methods to know from Nazi prisoners what was happening to the Jewish people on the camps.
Anyway, also, there are elements like the assasination attempt to Hitler that they were aware that it was made by their own generals. I don't think that kind of stuff would be informed so easily since it was a clear fact of how divided was the opinions of the high ranking staff of the Third Reich.
I am not saying that the diary is not authentic as some dumb people commented that the Holocaust didn't happen.
The Holocaust happened.
It was real and we never forget that to avoid that it would happen again. I am just commenting that surprised me how well they were informed about key sensitive info of war events taking in account that they were a bunch of people living hidden for like 3 years in an isolated annex of a building.
I know, they got visits by the people that helped them but even so. I am not questioning its authenticity, just expressing my surprise when I read it. There were other things here and there that I was surprised by the use of terms like "diet: low fat", geez! I didn't know that in the 1940's they used terms like that in the 1980's were like the rush of "healthy food", but again, I supposed it's the effect that stuff that we think are new, they are just recycled and labeled as "new".
I am amazed that this book is banned in some schools, okay, there are comments relating to sex and sexual preferences, but so what? If a teenage girl from the 1940's can think about stuff like that while she was isolated with a war outside, don't you think that teenagers of today can think just the same?
I think that books like this one can help them to know that they are not alone, that they are not weird for thinking things like that, that was normal in the 1940s and it's normal now too.
I was amazed that the group tried to "live normal", I mean, kids making school work and so. I think that in such extraordinary circumstances, they needed to do extraordinary things like to make circles and to talk in group and hearing all about topics. I mean, they were like trapped and living together, really too close in the sense of physical space and yet, nobody cares about what Anne thinks or what she has to offer? Geez! Sure, they need to be really still and in silence, usually at day, but they should like making a "tribe", I don't know, I am babbling, but to try to live like regular families was evidently wrong for the sanity of their interrelationships.
What didn't surprised me were behaviors like trying to hide food or keeping money from the group. In times where the group work were essential to survive, the human selfishness risen as a second nature.
Resumming, I just want to explain that my rating is based on my "entertaining" experience while reading the book and the format of the book itself.
And this didn't have to do with my respect for the subject of the Holocaust and its terrible events.
July 6, 2023
A sad, very important work
That´s a sociological and psychological study to
How Frank describes both the outside world and the complex, inner relationships between the involved humans, is one of the essential elements of the book. One other are the
Thoughts and feelings of a teenager
In a world that totally lost control over sanity and humanity. The descriptions of the Holocaust are what the work is most known for, but especially for young female readers, it´s also an interesting work about becoming a woman in conservative times. That´s the forgotten element, that
Even the normal traditions of that time seem bizarre by nowaday standards
Because it was also the beginning of the time of breaking the sexism, cultural norms, and discriminations women faced for millennia. So what Anne´s family believes, thinks, and says is an as important element as the genocide going on outside. If it would have been written by a boy, it would be more interesting for the male audience. But no matter the age, gender, or social group, descriptions of
Totalitarian atroticities
Will always be haunting when the disaster is over. Most of the famous works of that genre come from Germany or Russia because of the bloody history, but there may have been thousands of hidden, secretly written manuscripts by prosecuted people that have been burned together with the authors over the centuries. Exactly this moment this is happening all around the world in the dozens of dictatorships that torture, intern, and kill unknown numbers of dissidents each day. That´s one of the things people living in Western democracies tend to forget. That the terror isn´t over yet.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
That´s a sociological and psychological study to
How Frank describes both the outside world and the complex, inner relationships between the involved humans, is one of the essential elements of the book. One other are the
Thoughts and feelings of a teenager
In a world that totally lost control over sanity and humanity. The descriptions of the Holocaust are what the work is most known for, but especially for young female readers, it´s also an interesting work about becoming a woman in conservative times. That´s the forgotten element, that
Even the normal traditions of that time seem bizarre by nowaday standards
Because it was also the beginning of the time of breaking the sexism, cultural norms, and discriminations women faced for millennia. So what Anne´s family believes, thinks, and says is an as important element as the genocide going on outside. If it would have been written by a boy, it would be more interesting for the male audience. But no matter the age, gender, or social group, descriptions of
Totalitarian atroticities
Will always be haunting when the disaster is over. Most of the famous works of that genre come from Germany or Russia because of the bloody history, but there may have been thousands of hidden, secretly written manuscripts by prosecuted people that have been burned together with the authors over the centuries. Exactly this moment this is happening all around the world in the dozens of dictatorships that torture, intern, and kill unknown numbers of dissidents each day. That´s one of the things people living in Western democracies tend to forget. That the terror isn´t over yet.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
December 19, 2017
There really isn’t anything I can add that many other reviews haven’t already done. It’s a five star read because it is important, because it is real and because the holocaust is something we should never forget.
November 3, 2016
It happened. That thing, the reason I have put off reading this, happened. My heart broke. And I knew it would. Sure, I had heard of Anne Frank, I knew who she was, what she did, what happened. She is a historic figure, and a tragic one certainly. But I didn't make the really personal connection until I read her words, this diary. Her words bring her to life again. What a precocious young girl, so smart, so full of life; a life with so much promise, so much hope. She thinks, even writes, very much like a young girl would today. I think that's why so many young people feel a connection with her still. It's not a great work of literature. It can be tedious at times, even repetitive. But it's an important contribution to history. It tells a story that needs to be told again and again, not forgotten. Yes, Anne's words do give her life, and they will break your heart. But more importantly they resonate across time and around the world, and I expect they always will.
June 12, 2022
I never knew that a book could make me so emotional until I read this memoir for the first time during my high school days. Every time I was quarantined during this pandemic, I thought about Anne Frank and her family. When I found it difficult to stay indoors for just 14 days during each quarantine, the Frank family had to hide in the Secret Annex for two long years. That too at the backdrop of the world war and the holocaust. This young lady had to go through many horrible conditions in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Anne Frank shows us the horrors of one of the most brutal acts of cruelty in world history and the importance of freedom in a human being's life. This is a must-read book for everyone.
November 9, 2021
The problem with Diary of a Young Girl is that it's the diary of a young girl, and young girls are, like young boys, kindof a pain in the ass. It's like 300 pages straight of "No one understands me!"
I guess the reason this made it on to so many high school curricula is that young people might relate to it, and clearly some of them do, because they wrote pissed-off comments below this review - but this doesn't depict the horrors of the Holocaust. Night does that. This depicts the boredom of being locked in an attic for two years. And Frank is very bright, but not bright enough to make great reading out of a kid's diary.
In the pantheon of literature about being locked in an attic, Flowers in the Attic is still the gold standard.
I guess the reason this made it on to so many high school curricula is that young people might relate to it, and clearly some of them do, because they wrote pissed-off comments below this review - but this doesn't depict the horrors of the Holocaust. Night does that. This depicts the boredom of being locked in an attic for two years. And Frank is very bright, but not bright enough to make great reading out of a kid's diary.
In the pantheon of literature about being locked in an attic, Flowers in the Attic is still the gold standard.
October 4, 2017
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.
One cannot fathom what other marvelous books the world might have known had this talented, perceptive girl been permitted the life she was due.
"We don't want our belongings to be seized by the Germans, but we certainly don't want to fall into their clutches ourselves. So we shall disappear of our own accord and not wait until they come and fetch us."
"But, Daddy, when would it be?" He spoke so seriously that I grew very anxious.
"Don't worry about it, we shall arrange everything. Make the most of your carefree young life while you can."
That was all. Oh, may the fulfillment of these somber words remain far distant yet!
Fifteen months later . . .
The atmosphere is so oppressive, and sleepy and as heavy as lead. You don't hear a single bird singing outside, and a deadly close silence hangs everywhere, catching hold of me as if it will drag me down deep into an underworld.
One cannot fathom what other marvelous books the world might have known had this talented, perceptive girl been permitted the life she was due.
"We don't want our belongings to be seized by the Germans, but we certainly don't want to fall into their clutches ourselves. So we shall disappear of our own accord and not wait until they come and fetch us."
"But, Daddy, when would it be?" He spoke so seriously that I grew very anxious.
"Don't worry about it, we shall arrange everything. Make the most of your carefree young life while you can."
That was all. Oh, may the fulfillment of these somber words remain far distant yet!
Fifteen months later . . .
The atmosphere is so oppressive, and sleepy and as heavy as lead. You don't hear a single bird singing outside, and a deadly close silence hangs everywhere, catching hold of me as if it will drag me down deep into an underworld.
June 8, 2020
This is a powerful must read. It makes me wonder how many other diaries like this were written during the war that were lost during the holocaust, destruction of cities, purging of Jewish living spaces, etc. It is amazing that this narrative on life in hiding made it through and can represent all those who were in hiding and whose voices were never heard.
I knew the story of Anne Frank before reading this book. In fact, I may have read some or all of it back in high school, but I cannot remember for sure. Back around 2006 or 2007 I took a trip to Europe and had a chance to visit the Anne Frank House. Unless you get a chance to visit in person, it is hard to understand exactly what the conditions were like and the size of the space. Anne Frank did a good job describing, but seeing is believing!
Another interesting thing about reading this now is that we are in the middle of the Coronavirus quarantine. While many of us get a bit of cabin fever being asked to stay home, reading Anne Frank’s words about being trapped in a small space for two years because of fear of death if found really puts it into perspective. But, at the same time, this might be a good time to revisit or read it for the first time because her frustrations with her family and situation may be a bit more understandable for those who have barely left the house in months.
When the book first started, I wondered how accurate Anne’s descriptions were. She was an angsty and outspoken teenager which made me wonder what was true and what was just her perspective. For example, the first few chapters are mainly her complaining about her parents, other adults, and people she did not like from school. However, I think this part of the diary is important because it shows her growth throughout the story as the situation becomes more dire and she is forced to mature before her time.
I cannot say that this book will be enjoyed by everyone – especially if biographies are not your thing. Also, the subject matter and the situation the Frank’s are in may be difficult for some to handle. But, it is an important document from World War II history and is worth reading no matter who you are.
I knew the story of Anne Frank before reading this book. In fact, I may have read some or all of it back in high school, but I cannot remember for sure. Back around 2006 or 2007 I took a trip to Europe and had a chance to visit the Anne Frank House. Unless you get a chance to visit in person, it is hard to understand exactly what the conditions were like and the size of the space. Anne Frank did a good job describing, but seeing is believing!
Another interesting thing about reading this now is that we are in the middle of the Coronavirus quarantine. While many of us get a bit of cabin fever being asked to stay home, reading Anne Frank’s words about being trapped in a small space for two years because of fear of death if found really puts it into perspective. But, at the same time, this might be a good time to revisit or read it for the first time because her frustrations with her family and situation may be a bit more understandable for those who have barely left the house in months.
When the book first started, I wondered how accurate Anne’s descriptions were. She was an angsty and outspoken teenager which made me wonder what was true and what was just her perspective. For example, the first few chapters are mainly her complaining about her parents, other adults, and people she did not like from school. However, I think this part of the diary is important because it shows her growth throughout the story as the situation becomes more dire and she is forced to mature before her time.
I cannot say that this book will be enjoyed by everyone – especially if biographies are not your thing. Also, the subject matter and the situation the Frank’s are in may be difficult for some to handle. But, it is an important document from World War II history and is worth reading no matter who you are.
December 30, 2019
Dear Mom and Dad, Dear Friends,
That’s my end. They have come to take me to be shot. To hell. Dying at the utmost of victory is a little unfortunate, but what cares? The importance of an event is just in human’s mind. Pierre Benoit/ February 08, 1943/ Free interpretation from Letters of Those Who Were Being Shot.
A letter to Anne Frank
My Dear Little Girl,
Until today, it has never occurred to me that going through a page of a book into the last page was so annoying and distressing. I have read too many books that its author has left it in the middle but any open ending and unfinished one hasn’t been so painful for me. If I read the book disregarding your story, it is nothing more than the personal notes of a freshly mature girl: description of unimportant stories, the passionate feelings of adolescence and nags about food and living conditions during the Second World War. But now that I know what happened to you, will I can leave easily your wishes, the future you imagined for yourself, your dreams and hopes without grief and tear? You wished to be devoted to something, you wanted to be useful and make joy for all those who you might never saw. You wanted to live even after your death. Although your memories didn’t end the way you wanted, Although the story of your grey but hopeful days remained unfinished, I followed your unwritten story up to the top of Auschwitz chimneys, until the Bergen-Belsen mass graves. Your wish came true. You are a symbol of innocence, hope and depredated childhood for me and thousands of others. Though you lost your life, your love to the life, to the tree, to the sky has become a power in our heart to fight that part of human nature which took the living chance from you to not portray your fate in other children; To you and Peter be the last children of human being who were drawn to the cross of injustice and discrimination. Yes, we swore and we will stand up to the day that human being is the helper of the other one.
Tehran, February 12, 2018
پدر و مادر عزیزم، دوستان عزیز! این پایان کار من است. آمدهاند که من را برای تیرباران شدن ببرند، به جهنم. مردن در منتهای پیروزی کمی تاسفآور است، اما چه اهمیتی دارد؟ اهمیت یک واقعه تنها در خیال آدمیست - پییر بنوآ 8 فوریه 1943 / برداشت آزاد از نامههای تیرباران شدهها
نامهای به آن فرانک
دخترک عزیزم
تا امروز هرگز پیش نیامده بود که گذر از یک صفحهی کتاب به صفحهی آخر برایم چنین عذابآور و ناراحت کننده باشد. کتابهای زیادی خواندهام که نویسنده آن را نیمهکاره رها کرده، اما هیچ پایان باز و به سرانجام نرسیدهای این اندازه برایم دردآور نبود. کتاب را اگر فارغ از سرگذشتت بخوانم، چیزی نیست جز دلنوشتههای یک دختر تازه بالغ: شرح ماجراهای بیاهمیت، احساسات پرشور دوران نوجوانی و غرولندهایی دربارهی خوراک و وضعیت زندگی در دوران جنگ جهانی دوم. اما حالا که میدانم چه بر سرت آمده، مگر میتوانم از آرزوهایت، از آیندهای که برای خود متصور بودی، از رویاها و امیدهایت، به سادگی بدون اندوه و اشک بگذرم؟ تو آرزو داشتی وقف چیزی شوی، میخواستی مفید شوی و برای همهی آنها، حتی کسانی که هرگز ندیدی لذت بیافرینی. میخواستی بعد از مرگت هم به زندگی ادامه دهی. اگر چه خاطراتت آنطور که میخواستی به پایان نرسید، اگر چه داستان روزهای خاکستری ولی پر امیدت ناتمام ماند، اما من داستان نانوشتهی تو را تا بلندای دودکشهای آشویتس دنبال کردم، تا گورهای دستهجمعی برگن. تو به آرزویت رسیدی. تو برای من و هزاران تنِ دیگر نمادی هستی از معصومیت، امید و کودکیای که به یغما رفته است. اگرچه زندگی تو از دست رفت، اما عشقِ تو به زندگی، به درخت، به آسمان در قلب ما نیرویی شد برای مبارزه با آن بخش از سرشت انسان که فرصت زیستن را از تو گرفت، تا سرنوشت تو در کودکان دیگر تجسم نیابد، تا تو و پتر آخرین فرزندان انسان باشید که به صلیب بیعدالتی و تبعیض کشیده میشوید. آری، ما قسم خوردیم و تا آن روز که انسان یارِ انسان باشد مقاومت خواهیم کرد
تهران - 12 فوریه 2018
December 4, 2024
"أننا يهود..مقيدون في مكان واحد دون حقوق و بآلاف الواجبات..يجب أن نتحلي بالشجاعة والصبر ونثق في الرب..يوما ما ستنتهي هذه الحرب...يوماً ما نستطيع أن نكون آدمين وليس فقط يهوداً.."
أن فرانك ..الفتاة اليهودية التي أطلق اسمها علي شوارع ومدارس في أركان العالم ..
آن فرانك.. الفتاة التي تُرجمت يومياتها إلي أكثر من ٥٥ لغة و بيع منها أكثر من ٢٠ مليون نسخة حول العالم....
آن فرانك..الفتاة التي ظلت مختبئة مع عائلتها و عائلة يهودية أخري لمدة سنتين في مكتب والدها في هولندا خوفاً من إعتقالهم علي يد الألمان أثناء الحرب العالمية الثانية...
بدأت آن كتابة يومياتها في ١٢ يونيو ١٩٤٢ يوم بلوغها سن الثالثة عشر وكتبت فيها لآخر مرة يوم ١ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ ...
في ٤ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ جاء ثلاث هولنديين في خدمة الشرطة الألمانية أمام بناية برينسنغراخت ٢٦٣ وهي البناية التي يزورها الآن سنوياً أكثر من ٦٠٠ ألف شخص..تم إعتقال جميع من في المنزل و نقلهم إلي معسكرات الإبادة في أوشفيتز حيث توفت والدة آن من الجوع والإنهاك و توفت آن وأختها متأثرين بمرض التيفود ودفنوا في المقابر الجماعية في بيرغن ..أما أوتو فرانك والد آن،الوحيد من المختبئين الذي نجا من معسكرات الإعتقال بعد تحرير أوشفيتز من قبل الجيش الروسي و هو الذي قام بنشر يوميات ابنته...
الصراحة الكتاب جاء أقل من توقعاتي بكتير..
كنت أتوقع إنها حتتكلم عن معسكرات اليهود و تحكي تفاصيل أكتر عن الحرب ولكن للأسف كل اليوميات كانت معظمها تدور حول حياتهم وقت الأختباء و المشاجرات العائلية التي كانت تحدث بينهم والتغذية وانشغ��لات كل فرد و كان يوجد بعض التفاصيل عن قصة حب عاشتها آن مع بيتر الذي يبلغ من العمر ١٦ عاماً وكان مختبئ معهم في نفس المنزل...
إسلوب البنت طبعا بالنسبة لسنها يعتبر كويس جداً و كان فعلاً ممكن تكون كاتبة أو صحافية زي ما هي كانت بتتمني...
"عندما أكتب أتخلص من كل شئ ..يتبخر حزني تتجدد شجاعتي ولكن هذا هو السؤال الأساسي هل أستطيع يوماً ما كتابة شئ قيم؟ هل أصبح يوما ما صحافية وكاتبة؟"
تعرض الكتاب للهجوم مشككاً في أصالته والبعض أتهم والدها إنه هو الذي كتب اليوميات بس أنا شوفت إن إسلوب الكتابة مناسب لفتاة في مثل هذه السن باستثناء بعض المقاطع اللي فعلاً حتحس إن مستحيل بنت عندها ١٤ سنة تكون كتبتها...
أشتهرت هذه المذكرات -في رأيي- ليس بسبب ما تحتويه من أحداث ولكن بسبب البنت نفسها و حبها للحياة و موهبتها في الكتابة التي جعلتها إلي يومنا هذا رمز لمعاناة اليهود في العصر النازي...
"الأمل يجعلنا نحيا ..يمدنا بالشجاعة ..يمدنا بالقوة لأننا نحتاج للشجاعة لتحمل القلق،الحرمان والمعاناة.."
أن فرانك ..الفتاة اليهودية التي أطلق اسمها علي شوارع ومدارس في أركان العالم ..
آن فرانك.. الفتاة التي تُرجمت يومياتها إلي أكثر من ٥٥ لغة و بيع منها أكثر من ٢٠ مليون نسخة حول العالم....
آن فرانك..الفتاة التي ظلت مختبئة مع عائلتها و عائلة يهودية أخري لمدة سنتين في مكتب والدها في هولندا خوفاً من إعتقالهم علي يد الألمان أثناء الحرب العالمية الثانية...
بدأت آن كتابة يومياتها في ١٢ يونيو ١٩٤٢ يوم بلوغها سن الثالثة عشر وكتبت فيها لآخر مرة يوم ١ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ ...
في ٤ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ جاء ثلاث هولنديين في خدمة الشرطة الألمانية أمام بناية برينسنغراخت ٢٦٣ وهي البناية التي يزورها الآن سنوياً أكثر من ٦٠٠ ألف شخص..تم إعتقال جميع من في المنزل و نقلهم إلي معسكرات الإبادة في أوشفيتز حيث توفت والدة آن من الجوع والإنهاك و توفت آن وأختها متأثرين بمرض التيفود ودفنوا في المقابر الجماعية في بيرغن ..أما أوتو فرانك والد آن،الوحيد من المختبئين الذي نجا من معسكرات الإعتقال بعد تحرير أوشفيتز من قبل الجيش الروسي و هو الذي قام بنشر يوميات ابنته...
الصراحة الكتاب جاء أقل من توقعاتي بكتير..
كنت أتوقع إنها حتتكلم عن معسكرات اليهود و تحكي تفاصيل أكتر عن الحرب ولكن للأسف كل اليوميات كانت معظمها تدور حول حياتهم وقت الأختباء و المشاجرات العائلية التي كانت تحدث بينهم والتغذية وانشغ��لات كل فرد و كان يوجد بعض التفاصيل عن قصة حب عاشتها آن مع بيتر الذي يبلغ من العمر ١٦ عاماً وكان مختبئ معهم في نفس المنزل...
إسلوب البنت طبعا بالنسبة لسنها يعتبر كويس جداً و كان فعلاً ممكن تكون كاتبة أو صحافية زي ما هي كانت بتتمني...
"عندما أكتب أتخلص من كل شئ ..يتبخر حزني تتجدد شجاعتي ولكن هذا هو السؤال الأساسي هل أستطيع يوماً ما كتابة شئ قيم؟ هل أصبح يوما ما صحافية وكاتبة؟"
تعرض الكتاب للهجوم مشككاً في أصالته والبعض أتهم والدها إنه هو الذي كتب اليوميات بس أنا شوفت إن إسلوب الكتابة مناسب لفتاة في مثل هذه السن باستثناء بعض المقاطع اللي فعلاً حتحس إن مستحيل بنت عندها ١٤ سنة تكون كتبتها...
أشتهرت هذه المذكرات -في رأيي- ليس بسبب ما تحتويه من أحداث ولكن بسبب البنت نفسها و حبها للحياة و موهبتها في الكتابة التي جعلتها إلي يومنا هذا رمز لمعاناة اليهود في العصر النازي...
"الأمل يجعلنا نحيا ..يمدنا بالشجاعة ..يمدنا بالقوة لأننا نحتاج للشجاعة لتحمل القلق،الحرمان والمعاناة.."
July 29, 2013
For her 13th birthday Anne Frank received a diary she dubbed Kitty. Shortly after her birthday with the fear that her older sister, Margo may be taken by the Nazis the Franks disappear into the night and go into hiding. It is through Kitty that Anne records her thoughts and daily life living behind a bookcase in the secret annex.
When I was younger I went through a "holocaust" phase before moving on to Harriet Tubman and slavery. The funny thing is that Anne Frank's Diary was not the first Holocaust book I read, I think that was The Devil's Advocate. Anyway,I soon became fascinated by the Secret Annex and the secluded life she lived for two years. Unfortunately she and the other occupants of the Annex were betrayed and sent to concentration camps with only her father Otto Frank surviving. The tragic thing (not to minimize the inhumanity of it all) is that Anne died mere weeks before liberation. Anne's dream was to have her diary published after the war and after liberation her father saw that happen, making Kitty a time capsule to an unfathomable past.
View all my reviews on my blog She is too fond of books
When I was younger I went through a "holocaust" phase before moving on to Harriet Tubman and slavery. The funny thing is that Anne Frank's Diary was not the first Holocaust book I read, I think that was The Devil's Advocate. Anyway,I soon became fascinated by the Secret Annex and the secluded life she lived for two years. Unfortunately she and the other occupants of the Annex were betrayed and sent to concentration camps with only her father Otto Frank surviving. The tragic thing (not to minimize the inhumanity of it all) is that Anne died mere weeks before liberation. Anne's dream was to have her diary published after the war and after liberation her father saw that happen, making Kitty a time capsule to an unfathomable past.
View all my reviews on my blog She is too fond of books
December 25, 2021
How can you not give this classic diary the coveted: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Note: this book is listed as one of the most popular books to be banned, over the past decade, from both schools and private libraries. Support freedom of expression by reading and buying banned books! ❤️📚
Note: this book is listed as one of the most popular books to be banned, over the past decade, from both schools and private libraries. Support freedom of expression by reading and buying banned books! ❤️📚
November 24, 2024
This book was given to me by my Rabbi as a gift on my confirmation.
My edition is so old, you can't even find it. It is a Modern Library Book edition with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. It doesn't mean that I am that old (although I am old-ish), but, the copyright is 1952 (I will say I wasn't born then).
I still have this book.
So this book is very personal to me. For a past I experienced growing up in a very prejudiced neighborhood. The anti-semitic past and hatred I endured living in Southern California. So a lot of times, I had to hide that I was Jewish. To protect myself.
And it is especially hard to see the hatred in today's world.
I don't practice Judaism today. But it is my history. It is a part of me. And my ancestors have endured a lot. So, yes, this book, Anne Frank's experience, it is personal.
Premise: the diary of a young girl beginning on her 13th birthday (6-12-42). {Interesting that I am posting this review on the date that would have been celebrating her birthday 81 years later.} The diary ends August 1, 1944.
Despite all that was going on around her, Anne was a happy and cheerful person. She was talkative and inquisitive. She was challenged as a teenager, and didn't always understand everyone or the situation, but she still had a great sunshine spirit.
I think this was another reason the Rabbi felt this was an important book to share with us young ones as we were entering our commitment to Judaism. He not only wanted us to understand what it meant to be a Jew, and the sacrifices of those before us, but the joy of a good positive attitude - despite the circumstances they endured.
I'm not sure that always worked for me. I questioned why the Jews didn't fight back. Why they allowed themselves to be shuttled into camps so easily once they knew that was what was happening. And as I questioned, I was reminded of the deepness of their religious beliefs of love and fellowship and the goodness and belief in humanity.
Thank you Anne.
We need to get back there again. Love. Fellowship. Goodness and belief in humanity. Yes?
My edition is so old, you can't even find it. It is a Modern Library Book edition with an introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt. It doesn't mean that I am that old (although I am old-ish), but, the copyright is 1952 (I will say I wasn't born then).
I still have this book.
So this book is very personal to me. For a past I experienced growing up in a very prejudiced neighborhood. The anti-semitic past and hatred I endured living in Southern California. So a lot of times, I had to hide that I was Jewish. To protect myself.
And it is especially hard to see the hatred in today's world.
I don't practice Judaism today. But it is my history. It is a part of me. And my ancestors have endured a lot. So, yes, this book, Anne Frank's experience, it is personal.
Premise: the diary of a young girl beginning on her 13th birthday (6-12-42). {Interesting that I am posting this review on the date that would have been celebrating her birthday 81 years later.} The diary ends August 1, 1944.
Despite all that was going on around her, Anne was a happy and cheerful person. She was talkative and inquisitive. She was challenged as a teenager, and didn't always understand everyone or the situation, but she still had a great sunshine spirit.
I think this was another reason the Rabbi felt this was an important book to share with us young ones as we were entering our commitment to Judaism. He not only wanted us to understand what it meant to be a Jew, and the sacrifices of those before us, but the joy of a good positive attitude - despite the circumstances they endured.
I'm not sure that always worked for me. I questioned why the Jews didn't fight back. Why they allowed themselves to be shuttled into camps so easily once they knew that was what was happening. And as I questioned, I was reminded of the deepness of their religious beliefs of love and fellowship and the goodness and belief in humanity.
Thank you Anne.
We need to get back there again. Love. Fellowship. Goodness and belief in humanity. Yes?
July 1, 2008
While her story is sad, the naked Emperor cult around this book is unmerited.
The key quotation about people being basically good at heart is absurd in the light of the story, and from a theological perspective, just plain wrong.
The key quotation about people being basically good at heart is absurd in the light of the story, and from a theological perspective, just plain wrong.
December 4, 2024
En mi humilde opinión, es un poco extraño calificar este libro como literatura. Mientras lo leía, era como leer un diario, nada más. Lo que vivió ella fue terrible, a pesar de que siempre dentro de todo lo malo -la guerra- siempre hubo una pequeña luz de alegría en su vida -Peter-. Lo peor de todo, es que estoy casi convencido que lo que escribió Ana fue algo común en muchas niñas y niños, adultos y adultas de la época, aunque suene frío, este es sólo un caso más de los muchos que hubo.
La historia conmueve, por cierto, y es muy fácil entrar en el mundo de Ana mirado desde su perspectiva infantil/pre-adolescente. Era una niña muy inteligente, estaba al tanto de todo lo que pasaba con respecto a la guerra a pesar de su edad, y también se daba cuenta de las conversaciones de adultos que se llevaban a cabo en "El Anexo".
Respecto a la veracidad de éste, hay unos que dicen que es un invento, yo no lo creo así, y si así fuera, quizás inventaron que una tal Ana Frank escribió un diario, pero de seguro esta misma historia le pasó a más de alguno.
Hay un museo de Ana Frank en Amsterdam el cual tuve la oportunidad de visitar, así que creo y quiero creer que este diario efectivamente existió, quizás sólo le cambiaron unas que otras oraciones.
¿Vale la pena leerlo? Absolutamente, es un libro/diario muy fácil de entender y seguir. Libro "liviano".
La historia conmueve, por cierto, y es muy fácil entrar en el mundo de Ana mirado desde su perspectiva infantil/pre-adolescente. Era una niña muy inteligente, estaba al tanto de todo lo que pasaba con respecto a la guerra a pesar de su edad, y también se daba cuenta de las conversaciones de adultos que se llevaban a cabo en "El Anexo".
Respecto a la veracidad de éste, hay unos que dicen que es un invento, yo no lo creo así, y si así fuera, quizás inventaron que una tal Ana Frank escribió un diario, pero de seguro esta misma historia le pasó a más de alguno.
Hay un museo de Ana Frank en Amsterdam el cual tuve la oportunidad de visitar, así que creo y quiero creer que este diario efectivamente existió, quizás sólo le cambiaron unas que otras oraciones.
¿Vale la pena leerlo? Absolutamente, es un libro/diario muy fácil de entender y seguir. Libro "liviano".
April 9, 2014
Ya gotta hand it to this teen girl who was writing about her life with such clarity and eloquence when her life was hanging by a thread.
I've read reviews of The Diary of a Young Girl that complained about how Frank ignored the bigger picture of the war and that her subject matter was trite, whiny and insular. What else could it be, this diary of a teen secreted away in the compact environs of an attic with the same people for years learning little-to-no outside information?
From the standpoint of a detached, pure read, the fact that the diary includes a love interest is a blessing. But even without it, it's a wonderful and at times intense read. There were numerous times when the family was nearly caught during which my heart would race uncontrollably and my breath would catch. Knowing what happens to all of them after the diary ends packs the kind of punch you get in fiction...only it's not.
I've read reviews of The Diary of a Young Girl that complained about how Frank ignored the bigger picture of the war and that her subject matter was trite, whiny and insular. What else could it be, this diary of a teen secreted away in the compact environs of an attic with the same people for years learning little-to-no outside information?
From the standpoint of a detached, pure read, the fact that the diary includes a love interest is a blessing. But even without it, it's a wonderful and at times intense read. There were numerous times when the family was nearly caught during which my heart would race uncontrollably and my breath would catch. Knowing what happens to all of them after the diary ends packs the kind of punch you get in fiction...only it's not.
January 26, 2024
آن فرانک عزیز
من دفترچه خاطرات تو رو نزدیک به یازده هزار کیلومتر دورتر از مخفیگاهت در هلند و ٧۵ سال بعد از اینکه نوشتیش خواندم. شگفت انگیزه، نه؟
بگذار این رو هم بهت بگم که سال ها عکس تو روی کتابت (آره، تو واقعا یک نویسنده شدی!) بهم زل زده بود و من اتفاقی سالی رو برای خوندنت انتخاب کردم که خودم دارم توی یک جور قرنطینه زندگی می کنم. برای همین شاید فقط کمی بهتر درکت کردم
با خودم میگفتم اگر تو تونستی توی یک خونهی کوچک با پنجرههای تیره شده، غذای کم، کنار هفت نفر آدم و با وجود ترس از مرگ و بمباران، ٧۶١ روز دوام بیاری و زندگی کنی، من حتی نباید گلایه کنم. چطور تونستی همهی اون روزها امیدت رو حفظ کنی؟ چطور تونستی درس بخونی، عاشق بشی و زندگی کنی، وقتی خرابی و نابودی همهی جهانت رو گرفته بود؟
آن عزیزم، جنگ جهانی تموم شد و ای کاش فقط چند هفته بیشتر زنده میموندی تا پایانش رو ببینی. آره اون جنگ تموم شد ولی درد تموم نشد. اصلاً مگه میشه تموم شدنی باشه؟ تو همیشه به ذات خوب انسانها باور داشتی و منم مدت هاست که دارم سعی میکنم باورم رو حفظ کنم، ولی یک رازی رو بهت بگم؟ فکر می کنم مدتیه که دیگه اینطور فکر نمیکنم و فقط نمیخوام بپذیرم
راستش رو بخوای گاهی با خودم فکر میکردم که این نوشتهها شخصی بوده و شاید هرگز دوست نداشتی که همشون خونده بشن. ولی وقتی فهمیدم که نویسنده و ژورنالیست شدن بزرگترین آرزوی تو بوده، خوشحال شدم که حداقل بعد از رفتنت بهش رسیدی. تو نوشتههات رو برای دختر خیالیای به نام کیتی می نوشتی، حالا میلیونها کیتی حرف های تو گوش کردند و همدم تو شدند. شاید اون زمان که از افکار خاص و متفاوتت مینوشتی، فکر میکردی که هرگز کسی تو رو درک نمی کنه. ولی فقط لازم بود زمان بگذره تا کیتیهایی که تو رو میفهمند از راه برسند
ازت ممنونم که نوشتی. من همیشه اعتقاد داشتم که نوشتن بزرگترین جادوگری دنیاست و وقتی نوشتههای تو رو توی دستام گرفته بودم و به صدات که بعد از این همه سال شنیده میشه گوش میدادم، بیشتر از همیشه بهش ایمان آوردم
مائده
تهران-٢٠٢١
کانال تلگرام ریویوها و دانلود کتابها و صوتیشون
Maede's Books
٩٩/۱۰/۲۲
من دفترچه خاطرات تو رو نزدیک به یازده هزار کیلومتر دورتر از مخفیگاهت در هلند و ٧۵ سال بعد از اینکه نوشتیش خواندم. شگفت انگیزه، نه؟
بگذار این رو هم بهت بگم که سال ها عکس تو روی کتابت (آره، تو واقعا یک نویسنده شدی!) بهم زل زده بود و من اتفاقی سالی رو برای خوندنت انتخاب کردم که خودم دارم توی یک جور قرنطینه زندگی می کنم. برای همین شاید فقط کمی بهتر درکت کردم
با خودم میگفتم اگر تو تونستی توی یک خونهی کوچک با پنجرههای تیره شده، غذای کم، کنار هفت نفر آدم و با وجود ترس از مرگ و بمباران، ٧۶١ روز دوام بیاری و زندگی کنی، من حتی نباید گلایه کنم. چطور تونستی همهی اون روزها امیدت رو حفظ کنی؟ چطور تونستی درس بخونی، عاشق بشی و زندگی کنی، وقتی خرابی و نابودی همهی جهانت رو گرفته بود؟
آن عزیزم، جنگ جهانی تموم شد و ای کاش فقط چند هفته بیشتر زنده میموندی تا پایانش رو ببینی. آره اون جنگ تموم شد ولی درد تموم نشد. اصلاً مگه میشه تموم شدنی باشه؟ تو همیشه به ذات خوب انسانها باور داشتی و منم مدت هاست که دارم سعی میکنم باورم رو حفظ کنم، ولی یک رازی رو بهت بگم؟ فکر می کنم مدتیه که دیگه اینطور فکر نمیکنم و فقط نمیخوام بپذیرم
راستش رو بخوای گاهی با خودم فکر میکردم که این نوشتهها شخصی بوده و شاید هرگز دوست نداشتی که همشون خونده بشن. ولی وقتی فهمیدم که نویسنده و ژورنالیست شدن بزرگترین آرزوی تو بوده، خوشحال شدم که حداقل بعد از رفتنت بهش رسیدی. تو نوشتههات رو برای دختر خیالیای به نام کیتی می نوشتی، حالا میلیونها کیتی حرف های تو گوش کردند و همدم تو شدند. شاید اون زمان که از افکار خاص و متفاوتت مینوشتی، فکر میکردی که هرگز کسی تو رو درک نمی کنه. ولی فقط لازم بود زمان بگذره تا کیتیهایی که تو رو میفهمند از راه برسند
ازت ممنونم که نوشتی. من همیشه اعتقاد داشتم که نوشتن بزرگترین جادوگری دنیاست و وقتی نوشتههای تو رو توی دستام گرفته بودم و به صدات که بعد از این همه سال شنیده میشه گوش میدادم، بیشتر از همیشه بهش ایمان آوردم
مائده
تهران-٢٠٢١
کانال تلگرام ریویوها و دانلود کتابها و صوتیشون
Maede's Books
٩٩/۱۰/۲۲
March 28, 2024
A book I read during adolescence marks me as a moving and sad story—and to think that this book tells a true story. The reality of our world is exposed to sensitivity and accuracy and riddled with the truth, but the truth comes out of the mouths of children.
February 17, 2008
I'm the daughter of German Jews. My mother's family came from Berlin and my father's from Frankfurt. Yes, the same Frankfurt as the Franks. They were a very old German family --- there is still an Edinger Institut at the University begun by my great grandfather, and Edinger Strasse, and other vestiges of my family's existence there. Moreover I still have relatives in Germany, those who came from lines where people had converted.
Anyway, my father (whose father did not leave Germany and was eventually deported and killed) became an academic specialist in German politics and I spent several years of my childhood in Germany. One year was 7th grade. Before we left my father's mother gave me Anne Frank's diary and a diary. Later, upon visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and seeing her original diary, I realized that mine was just like hers. I mean, just like. Clearly my grandmother had given me one she had bought in Frankfurt and Anne's must have also been from Frankfurt, bought around the same time. They are identical other than a difference in coloring
But the diary was what woke me up to the Holocaust as well as to what it was to be a teenager. Anne's voice still echoes in my mind these many years later.
Anyway, my father (whose father did not leave Germany and was eventually deported and killed) became an academic specialist in German politics and I spent several years of my childhood in Germany. One year was 7th grade. Before we left my father's mother gave me Anne Frank's diary and a diary. Later, upon visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and seeing her original diary, I realized that mine was just like hers. I mean, just like. Clearly my grandmother had given me one she had bought in Frankfurt and Anne's must have also been from Frankfurt, bought around the same time. They are identical other than a difference in coloring
But the diary was what woke me up to the Holocaust as well as to what it was to be a teenager. Anne's voice still echoes in my mind these many years later.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2015
I'm really surprised by the number of people who thought this book was boring.
I could understand how an adult man might find the musings of a young girl rather dull, but how can people in general not find this journal utterly fascinating? Here is a teenage girl who up until the end wrote with the same emotional consistency as when she began. Whoever thinks this books is boring is because they simply fail to realize, or even imagine the conditions in which this diary was written under. To think how this young girls personal life continued beyond the details of the war is rather remarkable.
What would anyone else have written about in their diary as young boy or girl in the same predicament as the Franks?
Anne is surprisingly strong and mature for her age, impressively intelligent, and although there was a World War going on, her own particular world never abated. Her personal life was just as important, if not necessary in order for her to survive the day to day living conditions at the Annex.
Yes, there were brief moments of panic, but she had to live life, even if her living space was limited. She carried on as if being in hiding was a mere temporary inconvenience. She wasn't going to let that rob of her of her right to claim her passage into womanhood..her God given right to experience puberty, moodiness, emotions, and even love.
Here I thought I was about to read the semi-interesting scribbles of a blooming young lady, with ambiguous references to the war. But there is nothing cryptic about her diary. She shoots straight from the hip in this incredibly and shockingly honest account of what life was like for her and her family living in hiding during the WW. It's not what I expected at all. I expected something rather tame, but it's far from it. This young girl was very interesting and quite special.
You can't read this journal and think it's just an ordinary diary of a young girl, because it's not. Anne's diary is a representation of how other Jewish families lived and coped during the Nazi war. That's a pretty powerful thing. Many people don't realize how fortunate we are (thanks to Anne Frank, her Father Otto Frank and Miep Gies) to have some insight on how it must have been for the Jews to coexist this way. Because of Anne, we have an idea of how it was like to live under floorboards, in between walls, and behind bookshelves. This diary humanizes and brings back to life the Jewish people who mysteriously disappeared but who had not yet died.
I love this diary and I'm so grateful to have read it.
It must have been extremely difficult for her father Otto Frank to read his daughters diary after her death.
I could understand how an adult man might find the musings of a young girl rather dull, but how can people in general not find this journal utterly fascinating? Here is a teenage girl who up until the end wrote with the same emotional consistency as when she began. Whoever thinks this books is boring is because they simply fail to realize, or even imagine the conditions in which this diary was written under. To think how this young girls personal life continued beyond the details of the war is rather remarkable.
What would anyone else have written about in their diary as young boy or girl in the same predicament as the Franks?
Anne is surprisingly strong and mature for her age, impressively intelligent, and although there was a World War going on, her own particular world never abated. Her personal life was just as important, if not necessary in order for her to survive the day to day living conditions at the Annex.
Yes, there were brief moments of panic, but she had to live life, even if her living space was limited. She carried on as if being in hiding was a mere temporary inconvenience. She wasn't going to let that rob of her of her right to claim her passage into womanhood..her God given right to experience puberty, moodiness, emotions, and even love.
Here I thought I was about to read the semi-interesting scribbles of a blooming young lady, with ambiguous references to the war. But there is nothing cryptic about her diary. She shoots straight from the hip in this incredibly and shockingly honest account of what life was like for her and her family living in hiding during the WW. It's not what I expected at all. I expected something rather tame, but it's far from it. This young girl was very interesting and quite special.
You can't read this journal and think it's just an ordinary diary of a young girl, because it's not. Anne's diary is a representation of how other Jewish families lived and coped during the Nazi war. That's a pretty powerful thing. Many people don't realize how fortunate we are (thanks to Anne Frank, her Father Otto Frank and Miep Gies) to have some insight on how it must have been for the Jews to coexist this way. Because of Anne, we have an idea of how it was like to live under floorboards, in between walls, and behind bookshelves. This diary humanizes and brings back to life the Jewish people who mysteriously disappeared but who had not yet died.
I love this diary and I'm so grateful to have read it.
It must have been extremely difficult for her father Otto Frank to read his daughters diary after her death.
June 12, 2024
This is an autobiography based on Anne Frank's diary. Even today after 73 years this book is widely famous among us.
What makes this book so special? Well, this book was never written to get published, or even that someone will ever read it for that matter. If you write a diary entry you must be familiar with the unfiltered, raw, and original emotion behind writing it.
As this was not a planned book, so there is no unexpected twist but this book is worth a read. Please don't presume it to be a sad story, Anne Frank was a very jolly person which you can see in her little stories that she shared every day with her diary "Kitty". I was so amazed to notice how a teenager's writing can be so strong and thoughts can be so clear. It inspires me that even after so much chaos and fear around how positive and hopeful she was.
You might like to check out more similar books here.
What makes this book so special? Well, this book was never written to get published, or even that someone will ever read it for that matter. If you write a diary entry you must be familiar with the unfiltered, raw, and original emotion behind writing it.
As this was not a planned book, so there is no unexpected twist but this book is worth a read. Please don't presume it to be a sad story, Anne Frank was a very jolly person which you can see in her little stories that she shared every day with her diary "Kitty". I was so amazed to notice how a teenager's writing can be so strong and thoughts can be so clear. It inspires me that even after so much chaos and fear around how positive and hopeful she was.
You might like to check out more similar books here.
November 27, 2023
"I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."
Dear Anne, I hope what you confided in the diary, what we millions of readers around the world read today, will be a source of comfort to you, knowing that we are in awe of your courage, strength, and the magnitude of your faith. We can't begin to imagine what you and the rest of the members of the annex, as well as those others who were in hiding, had to go through: The constant fear of being discovered, the anxiety that comes from the uncertainty, the dire living conditions having to coup up in a small space for years end. And after all those sufferings, you had to be a victim and not a victor. That broke my heart, Anne.
To tell you honestly, Anne, I read your diary as if in a dream. I knew beforehand that it will be an emotionally taxing journey, not only because of what you've written but because I knew the end. So perhaps reading it as if in a trance maybe my way of protecting me from breaking down. But occasionally, when my veil of protection was shaken, I felt an icy cold gripping my heart. The discriminations and the horrors your people had to endure, and also the horrors the rest of the people in occupied countries had to endure, were too cruel to be true. But they truly happened. They did happen. And we live in that same world where at one point some deemed it right to exterminate one race! It's just appalling. But, while I felt all this Anne, you were optimistic. "Beauty remains even in misfortune. If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance... A person who has courage and faith will never die in misery".
Your diary is truthful. It tells us how the eight of you lived nearly two years couped up in the "secret annex". You tell us how crowded it can be, and the quarrels between people who live in such close proximity. Then you describe the emotional strain of living closed up with constant fear and anxiety. You were a brave girl, Anne. But even you despaired at times. "I've asked myself again and again whether it wouldn't have been if we hadn't gone into hiding, if we were dead now and didn't have to go through this misery. But we shrink from this thought. We still love life, we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, and we keep hoping.." At times it was hard to read your words, Anne; the words full of life, hope, and faith. You hoped for the invasion to come, to rescue you, and to allow you once again to step into the free world. But fate intervened before that. After forming a close connection with you and the other members in the annex through your diary, it was hard to digest that none except your father made it through to the free world.
But I'll tell you this, Anne. Remember what you wrote in your diary about not wanting to be forgotten. You wrote "I can't imagine having to live like all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I want to go on living even after my death!". You are not forgotten and even after your death, you're living in millions of readers' hearts. You wanted to be an author. And you are one, through your diary. So dear Anne, in a way, you accomplished your goal. And I'll tell you this also, Anne. You are a beautiful soul. "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart". Only you could have said that having to live through such injustice and cruelty.
You wrote once, Anne that "ten years after the war people would find it amusing to read how we lived". But it is not amusing; it is heartbreaking. Only people who had similar experiences could truly know the physical suffering and mental agonies of such living. The rest cannot even imagine. At least, you are now in your eternal rest. You cannot be touched by any sort of suffering now. That is a comfort to my burdened heart.
I'll now say my farewell to you. But before I go, I have a confession to make. Anne, I bought your diary at Auschwitz. It may be looked at as a cruel trick played on you, selling your story at a place you suffered much. But to tell you the truth, Anne, I see it as a tribute to you and all the holocaust victims who died without their voices being heard. And I sincerely hope you'll feel the same.
Dear Anne, I hope what you confided in the diary, what we millions of readers around the world read today, will be a source of comfort to you, knowing that we are in awe of your courage, strength, and the magnitude of your faith. We can't begin to imagine what you and the rest of the members of the annex, as well as those others who were in hiding, had to go through: The constant fear of being discovered, the anxiety that comes from the uncertainty, the dire living conditions having to coup up in a small space for years end. And after all those sufferings, you had to be a victim and not a victor. That broke my heart, Anne.
To tell you honestly, Anne, I read your diary as if in a dream. I knew beforehand that it will be an emotionally taxing journey, not only because of what you've written but because I knew the end. So perhaps reading it as if in a trance maybe my way of protecting me from breaking down. But occasionally, when my veil of protection was shaken, I felt an icy cold gripping my heart. The discriminations and the horrors your people had to endure, and also the horrors the rest of the people in occupied countries had to endure, were too cruel to be true. But they truly happened. They did happen. And we live in that same world where at one point some deemed it right to exterminate one race! It's just appalling. But, while I felt all this Anne, you were optimistic. "Beauty remains even in misfortune. If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance... A person who has courage and faith will never die in misery".
Your diary is truthful. It tells us how the eight of you lived nearly two years couped up in the "secret annex". You tell us how crowded it can be, and the quarrels between people who live in such close proximity. Then you describe the emotional strain of living closed up with constant fear and anxiety. You were a brave girl, Anne. But even you despaired at times. "I've asked myself again and again whether it wouldn't have been if we hadn't gone into hiding, if we were dead now and didn't have to go through this misery. But we shrink from this thought. We still love life, we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, and we keep hoping.." At times it was hard to read your words, Anne; the words full of life, hope, and faith. You hoped for the invasion to come, to rescue you, and to allow you once again to step into the free world. But fate intervened before that. After forming a close connection with you and the other members in the annex through your diary, it was hard to digest that none except your father made it through to the free world.
But I'll tell you this, Anne. Remember what you wrote in your diary about not wanting to be forgotten. You wrote "I can't imagine having to live like all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I want to go on living even after my death!". You are not forgotten and even after your death, you're living in millions of readers' hearts. You wanted to be an author. And you are one, through your diary. So dear Anne, in a way, you accomplished your goal. And I'll tell you this also, Anne. You are a beautiful soul. "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart". Only you could have said that having to live through such injustice and cruelty.
You wrote once, Anne that "ten years after the war people would find it amusing to read how we lived". But it is not amusing; it is heartbreaking. Only people who had similar experiences could truly know the physical suffering and mental agonies of such living. The rest cannot even imagine. At least, you are now in your eternal rest. You cannot be touched by any sort of suffering now. That is a comfort to my burdened heart.
I'll now say my farewell to you. But before I go, I have a confession to make. Anne, I bought your diary at Auschwitz. It may be looked at as a cruel trick played on you, selling your story at a place you suffered much. But to tell you the truth, Anne, I see it as a tribute to you and all the holocaust victims who died without their voices being heard. And I sincerely hope you'll feel the same.
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