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Who was Anne Frank?
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on June 12, 1929, the second daughter of Otto and Edith Frank. Anne's sister, Margo was three years older. There are photographs of the family that show the comfortable, normal and happy life they led there surrounded by many friends. The Frank sisters grew up speaking German and playing with Catholic, Protestant and Jewish children.
The Frank family expected to live their lives in Frankfurt as Otto Frank's family had done for generations but conditions of life in Germany were changing. In March 1933, the National Socialist (Nazi) party was elected to lead the municipal council in Frankfurt. The Nazis, whose power was spreading throughout Germany, expressed strong and violent feelings against the Jews. With Adolf Hitler as their leader, the Nazis banned all other parties. Anyone who opposed them was beaten or imprisoned. Soon, the prisons were so overcrowded that new ones, called concentration camps had to be built. The concentration camps were so called because in them were concentrated Jews, Communists and enemies of the Nazis.
Hitler continued to incite hatred of the Jews, launching Anti-Semitic campaigns on the radio, in films, in newspapers, magazines, and posters. He enacted laws against Jews, segregated Jewish school children, and deprived Jews of their jobs and property.
Otto and Edith Frank knew that as long as the Nazis were in power, life for Jews in Germany would become more and more dangerous. They feared that their normal life could not continue. They decided to move to the Netherlands where Otto had an offer to start a new company. Otto went to Amsterdam in 1933 to find a new home for his family and start up the business. Anne, Margo and Edith went to live temporarily with Edith's mother in Aachen, near the German border with Holland. In the autumn of 1933, the family was reunited in their new home in Amsterdam. Anne was four years old.
In Amsterdam, Anne and her sister had a busy and happy life, quickly learning Dutch, attending the local Montessori school, and making many new friends. They were bright girls and were encouraged by their parents to study and learn whatever subjects interested them. Otto Frank prospered in his new business, which made pectin, a fruit extract used in making jams and jellies. He watched the developments in Germany with growing anxiety and began to take further steps to protect his family.
In May 1940 the Nazis invaded Holland and soon began to place limits on the economic and social freedom the citizens had enjoyed. Jews had to register with the authorities so the Germans knew the names and addresses of every Jew in Holland. Jewish children were forced to attend only Jewish schools. Everybody was issued identity cards. Those issued to the Jews were stamped with a "J" and they were often stopped by the police and made to show the I.D. card. Jews were required to hand over their bicycles and barred from riding trolleys or [next page]