Thoughts from a Tower Chorale Member who taught
The Diary of a Young Girl for 10 years
While there is a multitude of Holocaust literature available today, The Diary of a Young Girl was one of the first published works that made this horrific chapter in our history real for millions of people across the world. It does not cover life in the concentration camps where human beings became tattooed unknowns. Rather, it reveals life for the Jewish people under Nazi occupation before they were called up and transported to the death camps. This book puts a human face and voice to what some would like us to forget. Anne Frank was a young, German born girl whose upper middle class family moved to Amsterdam to escape Nazi oppression. But with the beginning of WWII and the eventual fall of Holland to the Nazis, the Franks were forced to seek a hiding place since their safest refuge, the United States, had been denied to them because of fear of dangerous refugees. Anne received a diary for her 13th birthday, and wanting to be a writer, used it not only as a confidant, but also to chronicle life for Jews of that time. She told about having to wear Stars of David on their clothing to identify them, being forced to attend segregated schools, and her father’s loss of his company. They went to live (eight people in total) in several small rooms in what she called the Secret Annexe - an upper area to the back of her father’s office. The diary is full of a young girl’s typical thoughts - crushes on boys, fights with parents. But she also relates the monotony and fear of living day to day in cramped quarters with little food, having to be absolutely quiet during the day so as not to alert the workers below because only a few of them were aware and helping them. She is quite honest about her feelings. She reveals her fears and frustrations, but also her hope for the future. Despite all the hardships she and her family and friends faced, she still believed in the goodness of people. She was a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. After about two years in hiding they were discovered and taken away. Anne died just a few weeks before her camp was liberated by Allied forces. Her father was the only survivor of the group. One of the workers found Anne’s diary after they were taken and saved it for her return. Mr. Frank eventually had the diary published. Anne’s words give us hope even to this day. They are also a call to never forget or to allow these atrocities to ever happen again to anyone.
~ By Mary Beth Niziol, Tower Chorale Alto
~ By Mary Beth Niziol, Tower Chorale Alto
Further Reading
For her biography, click here.
For various videos, click here.
For her quotes, click here.
For a website devoted to her, click here.
For an article on her family being denied entry into the US, click here.
For a recent article about how she could have been found by accident, click here.
Even more recent article on Anne's pendant.
For various videos, click here.
For her quotes, click here.
For a website devoted to her, click here.
For an article on her family being denied entry into the US, click here.
For a recent article about how she could have been found by accident, click here.
Even more recent article on Anne's pendant.