Free Sample Essays > European History
Who was Anne Frank?
or using cars. Jews were set apart from other citizens and association between Jews and Gentiles was forbidden.
Aware that his company was in danger of being taken from him by the Nazis, Otto Frank transferred ownership to Gentile co-workers and began to make plans to go into hiding. He prepared a set of secret rooms behind his office and warehouse at 263 Prinsengracht. He furnished it simply and began to stock it with food and supplies for the day when he and his family might be forced to use it.
In 1942 Jews in Holland were required to wear yellow stars made of cloth attached to their outer clothing. This meant that they could be instantly recognized as Jews. In June of the same year the Nazi leaders announced that all Jews were to be transported to labor camps in Germany. Otto knew that this was the time for him to disappear with his family. Wearing many layers of clothing, instead of carrying suitcases or bundles that would attract attention in the street, the Frank family left their home and set up house in the secret rooms he had prepared. The rooms where they hid became known as the secret annex or " the house behind".
In June, on her thirteenth birthday, Anne received a diary that she took with her into hiding. The diary became more and more important to her as time passed because she had no contact with the outside world, no friends except her family and three family acquaintances who went into hiding with them, Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels. Anne wrote inside the front cover of her diary: "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope that you will be a great source of comfort and support." She gave her diary the name "Kitty". It became her closest friend and confidant during her time in hiding. In it, she wrote about her restricted activities, tensions with her mother and sister, worries about the safety of her Jewish friends outside, her fear of discovery, her longing for independence and freedom, and her dreams for the future. She also shared with "Kitty" reports of Nazi persecution and confided the growing awareness of herself as a sexual, moral, political and philosophical being. She felt a strong conviction that she wanted to become a writer.
After hearing a broadcast from London in which the education minister of the Dutch government in exile urged his fellow citizens to keep accounts of what they were experiencing under German occupation, Anne decided to revise her diary for publication after the war. She rewrote and polished the style of her diary, fictionalizing names and weaving it all together in a more readable form. While in hiding she also wrote several short stories.