1) John Maynard Keynes  

English economist, journalist and financier John Maynard Keynes is 
best known for his Keynesian economics, theories on the causes of 
prolonged unemployment. 
Synopsis 
John Maynard Keynes was born June 5, 1883 in Cambridge, England. 
Although the tone of his major writings in the 1920s was occasionally 
skeptical, he did not directly challenge the conventional wisdom of 
the period that favored laissez-faire. But his opinions did foreshadow the theoretical 
revolution he triggered in the 1930s with his work, The General Theory of Employment, 
Interest and Money. ​After graduating, Keynes went to work in the India Office, and 
simultaneously managed to work on a dissertation - often during office hours - which 
earned him a fellowship at King's College. In 1908, he quit the civil service and returned 
to Cambridge. Following the outbreak of World War One, Keynes joined the treasury, 
and in the wake of the Versailles peace treaty, he published 'The Economic 
Consequences of the Peace' in which he criticised the exorbitant war reparations 
demanded from a defeated Germany and prophetically predicted that it would foster 
a desire for revenge among Germans. This best-selling book made him world famous. 
During the inter-war years, Keynes amassed a considerable personal fortune from the 
financial markets and, as bursar of King's College, greatly improved the college's 
financial position. He became a prominent arts patron and board member of a 
number of companies. In 1926, he married Lydia Lopokova, a Russian ballerina.Keynes' 
best-known work, 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money', was 
published in 1936, and became a benchmark for future economic thought. It also 
secured his position as Britain's most influential economist, and with the advent of 
World War Two, he again worked for the treasury. In 1942, he was made a member of 
the house of lords. 

2)FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT 
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to be elected four 
times. He led the United States through the Great Depression and 
World War II. 
Who Was Franklin D. Roosevelt? ​Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
(January 30, 1882 to April 12, 1945) was the 32nd American president 
who led the United States through the Great Depression and World 
War II, greatly expanding the powers of the federal government 
through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal. 
Stricken with polio in 1921, Roosevelt (commonly known as FDR) 
spent much of his adult life in a wheelchair. A whole generation of Americans grew up 
knowing no other president, as FDR served an unprecedented four terms in office. 
Roosevelt’s social programs reinvented the role of government in Americans' lives, 
while his presidency during World War II established the United States' leadership on 
the world stage.  
How Many Presidential Terms Did FDR Serve? 
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to be elected four times, serving 12 
years in office from March 4, 1933 to his death on April 12, 1945.  
Fireside Chats ​On March 12, 1933, just eight days after first taking office, U.S. President 
Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated his first of more than 30 ​fireside chats​. Broadcast live on 
the radio from the White House, the earnest and accessible speeches were a powerful 
tactic to rally American support around FDR’s ​New Deal​ and ​World War II​ policies. 
FDR and the New Deal ​Within his first 100 days after taking office in March of 1933, 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a "New Deal" for Americans, proposing 
sweeping economic reforms to address ​the Great Depression​. The greatest crisis in 
American history since the ​Civil War​, 13 million Americans were unemployed and 
hundreds of banks were closed. Roosevelt ordered the temporary closure on all banks 
to halt the run on deposits. He formed a "Brain Trust" of economic advisers who 
designed the "alphabet agencies" such as the AAA (Agricultural Adjustment 
Administration), to support farm prices by reducing agricultural production through 
subsidies; the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps), to employ young unmarried men to 
work refurbishing public lands and national parks; and the NRA (National Recovery 
Administration), which regulated wages and prices. Other agencies insured bank 
deposits, regulated the stock market, subsidized mortgages and provided relief to the 
unemployed. 

By 1936 the U.S. economy showed signs of improvement: Gross national product was 
up 34 percent, and unemployment had dropped from 25 percent to 14 percent. But 
Franklin D. Roosevelt faced criticism for increased government spending, unbalanced 
budgets and what some perceived as a move toward socialism. During the mid-1930s, 
several New Deal acts were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. 
Roosevelt retaliated by proposing to "pack" the court with justices more favorable to 
his reforms. Many in Congress, including some Democrats, rejected the idea. By 1938, 
negative publicity, a continuing sluggish economy and Republican victories in 
midterm elections virtually ended Roosevelt's ability to pass more reform legislation. 

3)BENITO MUSSOLINI 
Benito Mussolini created the Fascist Party in Italy in 1919, 
eventually making himself dictator prior to World War II. He was 
killed in 1945. 
Who Was Benito Mussolini? 
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 to April 28, 1945), 
who went by the nickname “Il Duce” (“the Leader”), was an Italian 
dictator who created the Fascist Party in 1919 and eventually held 
all the power in Italy as the country’s prime minister from 1922 until 
1943. An ardent socialist as a youth, Mussolini followed in his 
father's political footsteps but was expelled by the party for his 
support of World War I. As dictator during World War II, he overextended his forces 
and was eventually killed by his own people in Mezzegra, Italy. 
Mussolini’s Death ​Mussolini and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were executed on April 
28, 1945, in Mezzegra (near Dongo), Italy, and their bodies were hung on display in a 
Milan plaza. Following the liberation of Rome by Allied forces, the pair had attempted 
to escape to Switzerland but were captured by the Italian underground on April 27, 
1945.  

4)JOSEPH STALIN 
Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, 
instituting a reign of terror while modernizing Russia and helping to 
defeat Nazism. 
Synopsis ​Born on December 18, 1879, in Gori, Georgia, Joseph Stalin rose 
to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party, becoming a Soviet 
dictator upon Vladimir Lenin's death. Stalin forced rapid industrialization 
and the collectivization of agricultural land, resulting in millions dying 
from famine while others were sent to camps. His Red Army helped defeat 
Nazi Germany during WWII. 
Early Life 
On December 18, 1879, in the Russian peasant village of Gori, Georgia, Iosif 
Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (later known as Joseph Stalin) was born. The 
son of Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, and Ketevan Geladze, a 
washerwoman, Joseph was a frail child. At age 7, he contracted smallpox, leaving his 
face scarred. A few years later he was injured in a carriage accident which left arm 
slightly deformed (some accounts state his arm trouble was a result of blood 
poisoning from the injury). The other village children treated him cruelly, instilling in 
him a sense of inferiority. Because of this, Joseph began a quest for greatness and 
respect. He also developed a cruel streak for those who crossed him. 

Joseph's mother, a devout Russian Orthodox Christian, wanted him to become a 

priest. In 1888, she managed to enroll him in church school in Gori. Joseph did well in 
school, and his efforts gained him a scholarship to Tiflis Theological Seminary in 1894. 
A year later, Joseph came in contact with Messame Dassy, a secret organization that 
supported Georgian independence from Russia. Some of the members were socialists 
who introduced him to the writings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Joseph joined the 
group in 1898. Though he excelled in seminary school, Joseph left in 1899. Accounts 
differ as to the reason; official school records state he was unable to pay the tuition 
and withdrew. It's also speculated he was asked to leave due to his political views 
challenging the tsarist regime of Nicholas II. Joseph chose not to return home, but 
stayed in Tiflis, devoting his time to the revolutionary movement. For a time, he found 
work as a tutor and later as a clerk at the Tiflis Observatory. In 1901, he joined the 
Social Democratic Labor Party and worked full-time for the revolutionary movement. In 
1902, he was arrested for coordinating a labor strike and exiled to Siberia, the first of 
his many arrests and exiles in the fledgling years of the Russian Revolution. It was 
during this time that Joseph adopted the name "Stalin," meaning steel in Russian. 

5)VLADIMIR LENIN 
Vladimir Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader 
of the Bolshevik Revolution and architect and first head of the 
Soviet state. 
Synopsis 
Vladimir Lenin founded the Russian Communist Party, led the 
Bolshevik Revolution and was the architect of the Soviet state. He 
was the posthumous source of "Leninism," the doctrine codified 
and conjoined with Marx's works by Lenin’s successors to form 
Marxism-Leninism, which became the Communist worldview. He has 
been regarded as the greatest revolutionary leader and thinker 
since Marx. 
Early Years 
Widely considered one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the 
20th century, Vladimir Lenin engineered the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 and 
later took over as the first leader of the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist 
Republics (USSR). 
He was born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov on April 22, 1870, in Simbirsk, Russia, which was later 
renamed Ulyanovsk in his honor. In 1901, he adopted the last name Lenin while doing 
underground party work. His family was well-educated, and Lenin, the third of six 
children, was close to his parents and siblings. 
School was a central part of Lenin’s childhood. His parents, both educated and highly 
cultured, invoked a passion for learning in their children, especially Vladimir. A 
voracious reader, Lenin went on to finish first in his high school class, showing a 
particular gift for Latin and Greek. 
But not all of life was easy for Lenin and his family. Two situations in particular shaped 
his life. The first came when Lenin was a boy and his father, an inspector of schools, 
was threatened with early retirement by a suspicious government nervous about the 
influence public school had on Russian society. 
The more significant and more tragic situation came in 1887, when Lenin’s older 
brother, Aleksandr, a university student at the time, was arrested and executed for 
being a part of a group planning to assassinate Emperor Alexander III. With his father 
already dead, Lenin now became the man of the family. Aleksandr’s involvement in 
oppositional politics was not an isolated incident in Lenin’s family. In fact, all of Lenin’s 
siblings would take part to some degree in revolutionary activities. 

6)RUDOLF HESS (1894-1987) 

Adolf Hitler appointed Rudolf Hess deputy of the Nazi party 
in 1939. Following World War II, Hess was convicted at the 
Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life in prison. 
Synopsis ​Rudolf Hess was born on April 26, 1894, in 
Alexandria, Egypt. In 1920, he became the 16th member of 
Nazi party. Hitler appointed him deputy in 1939. After staging 
a coup in 1941, he became a prisoner of war in England and 
was ousted from the Nazi party. Following World War II, he 
was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life in prison. He committed 
suicide on August 17, 1987, at the Spandau Prison in West Berlin, Germany.In 1923, Hess 
took part in Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in which Hitler and the Nazis attempted to 
seize control of Germany. Hess was arrested and imprisoned along with Hitler at 
Landsberg prison. While in prison, Hess took dictation for Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, 
and also made some editorial suggestions regarding Lebensraum, the historical role 
of the British Empire, and the organization of the Nazi Party. After his release from 
prison in 1925, Hess served for several years as Hitler's personal secretary in spite of 
having no official rank in the Nazi Party. In 1932, Hitler appointed him Chairman of the 
Central Political Commission of the Nazi Party and SS General as a reward for his loyal 
service. On April 21, 1933, he was made Deputy Führer, a figurehead position with 
mostly ceremonial duties. Hess was a shy, insecure man who displayed near religious 
devotion, fanatical loyalty and absolute blind obedience to Hitler. In 1934, Hess gave a 
revealing speech stating - "With pride we see that one man remains beyond all 
criticism, that is the Führer. This is because everyone feels and knows: he is always 
right, and he will always be right. The National Socialism of all of us is anchored in 
uncritical loyalty, in the surrender to the Führer that does not ask for the why in 
individual cases, in the silent execution of his orders. We believe that the Führer is 
obeying a higher call to fashion German history.  

7)HEINRICH HIMMLER 
Heinrich Himmler was commander of Hitler's Schutzstaffel, and later of the Gestapo in 
Nazi Germany. After World War II, he committed suicide to escape capture. 
Synopsis 
Heinrich Himmler was born on October 7, 1900, in Munich, Germany. In 1926, he became 
Hitler's deputy propaganda chief. In 1929, he was appointed commander of the 
Schutzstaffel. In 1933, he took command of the Gestapo, and expanded it. He became 
chief of all German police in 1936, and minister of the interior in 1943. He was expelled 
from the Nazi party that year. He commited suicide to escape capture on May 23, 1945, 
in Lunberg, Germany. 
Heinrich Himmler was a German Nazi military commander and a close associate of 
Adolf Hitler. He rose to power during the Second World War and is known as one of 
the very few men responsible for one of the most notorious holocausts in the known 
human history - the massacre of Jews. In 1925, he joined the Nazi party and by the next 
decade, he made his place as the Reichsfuhrer of the SS, and was later appointed as a 
police commander. Under his command, SS grew larger than ever in terms of 
manpower and force. By 1934, he had made his place among the most feared and 
respected Gestapo officers. He became the second most important officer of the 
Gestapo after Hitler, and on his orders he set up and controlled the concentration 
camps.  

8​)CHIANG-KAI-SHEK 
Born: October 30, 1887  
Died: April 5, 1975  
Taiwan  
Chinese president and political leader 
Chiang Kai-shek was a Chinese political leader and the major figure of Chinese history 
from 1927 to 1948. He led the Chinese Republic during World War II (1939–45) and was 
eventually forced from power by the Chinese Communists. After 1950 he served as 
president of the Republic of China on Taiwan. 
Early years and military education 
Chiang Kai-shek was born in Ch'i-k'ou, Chekiang, China, on 
October 30, 1887. Chiang was the son of a salt merchant and 
grew up in the densely populated province of Zhejiang. He 
received a traditional Chinese schooling which centered 
around Confucianism, a religious system based on the 
Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 B.C.E. ). 
In 1905 Chiang went to ​Ningpo​ to study and decided to 
pursue a military career. In 1906 he went to Tokyo where 
fellow Chekiangese Ch'en Ch'i-mei sponsored Chiang's entry 
into Sun Yat-sen's (1866–1925) ​revolutionary​ party, the 
T'ung-meng hui. When the revolution broke out in Wuhan, 
China, on October 10, 1911, Chiang returned to Shanghai, 
China, to fight under Ch'en. A series of triumphs by Ch'en 
and other revolutionists in the lower ​Yangtze Valley​ set the stage for the installation of 
Sun Yat-sen as temporary president of the Chinese Republic. In 1916, Ch'en was 
assassinated. 
In the fall of 1917 Sun Yat-sen moved to Canton, China, where he tried to establish a 
military base through an alliance with a local ​warlord​, Ch'en 
Chiung-ming. Chiang was assigned to Ch'en's staff, but as a 
Chekiangese, Chiang was not readily accepted among Ch'en's 
Cantonese followers.   
9)DOUGLAS MACARTHUR 
Douglas MacArthur was an American general best known for his 
command of Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War 
II. 
Synopsis 
Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 
26, 1880. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 
1903, he fought in World War I, and in World War II was the commander of Allied forces 
in the Pacific. When he criticized President Harry Truman's handling of the Korean 
War, he was relieved of his command. MacArthur died on April 5, 1964, and was buried 
in Norfolk, Virginia. 
Early Life 
Douglas MacArthur was born on an Army base in Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 26, 
1880, into a family with a strong military history. His father, Arthur, was a captain at the 
time of Douglas’ birth, and had been decorated for his service in the Union Army 
during the Civil War. Douglas’ mother, Mary, was from Virginia, and her brothers had 
fought for the South during the Civil War. The base where Douglas was born was just 
the first of several military posts on which he would live during his youth. 
In 1893 his family moved to San Antonio, Texas, and MacArthur attended the West 
Texas Military Academy, where he began to show academic promise. He was also a 
member of several of the school’s sports teams. After high school, MacArthur enrolled 
in the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he excelled, and in 1903 he 
graduated with honors. Following graduation, MacArthur was commissioned as a 
junior officer in the Army Corps of Engineers and spent the next decade fulfilling a 
variety of duties. This early period in his military career was marked by frequent 
promotions and led to posts in countries around the world, including the Philippines, 
Japan, Mexico and, in 1914, France. 
World War I and After 
At the start of World War I, MacArthur was promoted to major and assigned to what 
were essentially intelligence and administrative units. However, after the United States 
declared war on Germany, the 42nd Division (the so-called “Rainbow Division,” a 
National Guard unit composed of soldiers from a number of states) was created, and 
MacArthur was promoted to colonel and put in its command. In 1918 he participated in 
the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Sedan offensives, during which he repeatedly 
distinguished himself as a capable military leader. Upon returning from Europe, 
MacArthur became the superintendent of West Point, a post he held for the next three 
years. During this time he was promoted to 
brigadier general of the Army and also married 
his first wife, Louise Cromwell Brooks. For the rest 
of the 1920s, MacArthur again held various 
military posts a​nd also headed the American 
Olympic Committee. He divorced Louise in 1929. 

10)WINSTON CHURCHILL 
Sir Winston Churchill was a British writer, military 
leader and statesman. Twice named prime 
minister of the United Kingdom, he forged alliances with the United States and Soviet 
Union to defeat Nazi Germany in World War II. 
Who Was Winston Churchill? 
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (November 30, 1874 to January 24, 1965) was a 
British politician, military officer and writer who served as the prime minister of Great 
Britain from 1940 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1955. Born to an aristocratic family in 1874, 
Churchill served in the British Army and worked as a writer before earning election to 
Parliament in 1900. After becoming prime minister in 1940, Churchill helped lead a 
successful Allied strategy with the U.S. and Soviet Union during World War II to defeat 
the Axis powers and craft post-war peace. Elected prime minister again in 1951, he 
introduced key domestic reforms. 
As with other influential world leaders, Churchill left behind a complicated legacy. 
Remembered by his countrymen for defeating the dark regime of Hitler and the Nazis, 
he topped the list of greatest Britons of all time in a 2002 BBC poll, outlasting other 
luminaries like ​Charles Darwin​ and ​William Shakespeare​.  

11)HARRY TRUMAN 
Sworn in as the 33rd president after Franklin Delano Roosevelt's sudden death, Harry 
S. Truman presided over the end of WWII and dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. 
Synopsis 
Harry S. Truman was born in Missouri on May 8, 1884. He was Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt’s vice president for just 82 days before Roosevelt died and Truman became 
the 33rd president. In his first months in office he dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, 
ending World War II. His policy of communist containment started the Cold War, and 
he initiated U.S. involvement in the Korean War. Truman left office in 1953 and died in 
1972. 
Early Life 
Harry S. Truman was the first of three children born to John Anderson Truman, a 
farmer and mule trader, and his wife, Martha Ellen Truman. Harry was named in honor 
of his maternal uncle, Harrison Young, but his parents couldn’t decide on a middle 
name. After more than a month, they settled on simply using the letter “S” as a tribute 
to both his maternal grandfather, Solomon Young, and his paternal grandfather, 
Anderson Shipp Truman. 

Truman grew up on the family farm in Independence, Missouri, and did not attend 
college. He worked a variety of jobs after high school, first as a timekeeper for a 
railroad construction company, and then as a clerk and a bookkeeper at two separate 
banks in Kansas City. After five years, he returned to farming and joined the National 
Guard. 

12)VIOLETTE SZABO 
Violette Szabo joined the ​Special Operations Executive​ in ​1943​. 
Violette Szabo’s code-name was ‘Corrinne’. Her first SOE mission 
was in April 1944 and in July ​1944​, Szabo was landed by ​Lysander​ to 
spy on the closed zone around the Atlantic Wall. Szabo returned to 
Britain via Lysander in June 1944. Violette Szabo was born in June 
1921 to an English father and a French mother. She spent her early 
childhood in Paris but later moved to London where she went to 
school at the Brixton Secondary School. She left school at the age 
of 14 and started to work as a hairdresser’s assistant. After this job, 
she worked at the Oxford Street branch of Woolworth’s as a sales assistant. She 
married a captain in the Free French Army in 1940 but he was killed in action in the 
North Africa​campaign. Szabo received a letter from a ‘Mr. E Potter’ inviting her for an 
interview. At the interview, Potter suggested that her ability to speak French and her 
general knowledge of France would be of great advantage to his department. Szabo 
readily agreed to help. There were those in SOE who did not believe that she had the 
correct temperament to succeed. They were also concerned that her French accent 
was too English to fool the Germans. However, she was accepted for training and after 
passing this, she was parachuted into France in April 1944. Szabo had been given the 
task of helping the ​French Resistance​ try to re-constitute a group in Rouen. This 
required her traveling from Rouen to Paris on a regular basis – but within six weeks she 
had succeeded in her mission and she returned to London. On June 7th, 1944, Szabo 
was parachuted in Limoges. Her task was to co-ordinate the work of the ​French 
Resistance​ in the Limoges area in the initial days after ​D-Day​. She was captured by the 
SS ‘Das Reich’ Panzer Division and handed over to the Gestapo in Paris for 
interrogation. From Paris, Violette Szabo was sent to Ravensbruck concentration 
camp where she was executed in January ​1945​. She was posthumously awarded the 
George Cross and the Croix de Guerre. 

13)MATA HARI 
Mata Hari was a professional dancer and mistress 
who became a spy for France during World War I. 
Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed 
in 1917. 
Synopsis 
Born on August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, 
Mata Hari was a professional dancer and mistress 
who accepted an assignment to spy for France in 1916. Hired by army captain Georges 
Ladoux, agreeing to pass military information gleaned from her conquests to the 
French government. Not long after, however, Mata Hari was accused of being a 
German spy. She was executed by firing squad on October 15, 1917, after French 
authorities learned of her alleged double agency.At an early age, Mata Hari decided 
that sexuality was her ticket in life. In the mid-1890s, she boldly answered a newspaper 
ad seeking a bride for Rudolf MacLeod, a bald, mustachioed military captain based in 
the Dutch East Indies. She sent a striking photo of herself, raven-haired and 
olive-skinned, to entice him. Despite a 21-year age difference, they wed on July 11, 1895, 
when Mata Hari was just shy of 19. During their rocky, nine-year marriage—marred by 
MacLeod's heavy drinking and frequent rages over the attention his wife garnered 
from other officers—Mata Hari gave birth to two children, a daughter and a son. (The 
couple's son died in 1899 after a household worker in the Indies poisoned him for 
reasons that remain a mystery.) 
By the early 1900s, Mata Hari's marriage had deteriorated. Her husband fled with their 
daughter, and Mata Hari moved to Paris. There, she became the mistress of a French 
diplomat who helped her hatch the idea of supporting herself as a dancer. 

14)ANNE FRANK 
Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager who went 
into hiding during the Holocaust, journaling her 
experiences in the renowned work 'The Diary of 
Anne Frank.' 
Who Was Anne Frank? 
Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank (June 12, 1929 to 
March 1945) was a world-famous German-born 
diarist and ​World War II​ Holocaust victim. Her 
work, T​ he Diary of Anne Frank​, has gone on to 
be read by millions. Fleeing Nazi persecution of 
Jews, the family moved to Amsterdam and later 
went into hiding for two years. During this time, Frank wrote about her experiences 
and wishes. She was 15 when the family was found and sent to concentration camps, 
where she died.  
The Diary of Anne Frank 
The Secret Annex: Diary Letters from June 14, 1942 to August 1, 1944​ was a selection of 
passages from Anne Frank’s diary published on June 25, 1947 by Anne Frank’s father, 
Otto​. "If she had been here, Anne would have been so proud," he said. For all its 
passages of despair, Frank's diary is essentially a story of faith, hope and love in the 
face of hate. On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank's parents gave her a red checkered diary for 
her 13th birthday. She wrote her first entry, addressed to an imaginary friend named 
Kitty, that same day: "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." During the two years Anne Frank spent hiding from the Nazis with her family 
in the Secret Annex in Amsterdam, she wrote extensive daily entries in her diary to 
pass the time. Some betrayed the depth of despair into which she occasionally sunk 
during day after day of confinement. "I've reached the point where I hardly care 
whether I live or die," she wrote on February 3, 1944. "The world will keep on turning 
without me, and I can't do anything to change events anyway." However, the act of 
writing allowed Frank to maintain her sanity and her spirits. "When I write, I can shake 
​ he Diary of a Young Girl​, as it's typically 
off all my cares," she wrote on April 5, 1944. T
called in English, has since been published in 67 languages. Countless editions, as well 
as screen and stage adaptations, of the work have been created around the world. 
The Diary of a Young Girl​ remains one of the most moving and widely read firsthand 
accounts of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. Anne Frank's diary endures, 
not only because of the remarkable events she described, but due to her 
extraordinary gifts as a storyteller and her indefatigable spirit through even the most 
horrific of circumstances. "It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation 
of chaos, suffering and death," she wrote on July 15, 1944. "I see the world being slowly 
transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will 
destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I 
somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, 
that peace and tranquility will return once more." In addition to her diary, Frank filled 
a notebook with quotes from her favorite authors, original stories and the beginnings 
of a novel about her time in the Secret Annex. Her writings reveal a teenage girl with 
creativity, wisdom, depth of emotion and rhetorical power far beyond her years.