The Blog of Anne Frank

 

. . . everything can be taken from a man except one thing: the last of the human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

— Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.

— Anne Frank

On this date — September 2 — in 1944, Anne Frank was among 1,019 people on the 68th and last train from Holland to Auschwitz. Anne and others hiding with her had been betrayed and captured a month before and held in the Westerbork detention center.

Gravestone for Margot and Anne Frank at Bergen-Belsen site

The Frank family had gone into hiding two years earlier, in July 1942, after Anne’s sister, Margot, received a call-up notice to report for deportation to a labor camp.

Anne was at Auschwitz for two months, then at Bergen-Belsen, where she and Margot died four months later of typhus, just a few weeks before the camp was liberated.

Anne’s father, Otto, was liberated from Auschwitz by the Russian Army on January 27, 1945. His wife, Edith, had died the previous day.

Otto Frank was taken first to Odessa and then to France before being allowed to return to Amsterdam. He did not learn the whereabouts of his daughters until October 24, when he received a letter informing him they had died at Bergen-Belsen.

This unfortunately was not an unusual family trajectory for European Jews in the 1940s. Anne Frank is remembered from among millions of others because she maintained a blog — I mean diary — so that her experiences, what she did, the thoughts she had, and everything she suffered was not lost.

I suppose the same holds true for everyone, with or without a diary — nothing is lost, nothing can be undone . . . and it may be possible for a life that appears to be quite pointless at the time to attain a meaning, a purpose, even through suffering, failure and death . . .

  470 comments for “The Blog of Anne Frank

  1. 21 Jan 2009 at 1:51 pm

    heyy everyone!!:))
    Anne frank incrages me to do great things. she is a wonderful person i just got dont reading Anne frank:remembered…it made me cry just thinking how she fought and how thoose people sufferd and how it would have felt if that was me!!she is Awesome:))
    ~lauren~

  2. 21 Jan 2009 at 3:40 pm

    look angry person, i don t think i am her reincarnation at all, but i do think that u don t have to go through a war to be strong and encourage people to be brave, many people find themselves similar to anne frank, don t judge because u don´t know the stuff that may have happened to them.

  3. angel morgan
    23 Jan 2009 at 8:49 am

    that is so sad that he didnt know his girls had died that he found outthought a letter wow i hope i dont have to ever have to read something like that

  4. lucia
    27 Jan 2009 at 2:13 pm

    salve mi chiamo lucia ho appena finito di vedere il film di anna frank devo dire ke stato il film piu bello di tutta la mia vita e da qui ho capito ke l’ uomo nn ha sempre un cuore
    da stasera odierò per sempre i tedeschi ma come hanno potuto … sterminare una popolazione cosa gli hanno fatto gli ebrei? perche????? io li odiero sono senza cuore io li odiooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  5. Angry person again
    28 Jan 2009 at 11:44 am

    If you read the other messages you will see what i mean, and you are judging ME now so u cant talk.

  6. maddy
    28 Jan 2009 at 3:43 pm

    i am reading her diary at school . i cried so did my friend. those germans were nasty. they made people go into hiding. i am cring now. RIP ANNE FRANK AND MARGROT FRANK. your my role model

  7. Antje
    30 Jan 2009 at 4:42 pm

    I am truly disgusted by the comments i have seen on this website, but this is my own opinion.im suggesting that you get some serous mental help and those who think it is funny IT IS’NT.I cant believe that someone would have the nerve to write something so rude about a strong and willing young lady they have probably never heard the story of or read the book she was most likely sobbing over while witting so that you the people could try and understand what it was like in those conditions.although i love the book i think that if Anne was trying to have us understand how so many people suffered and died in those circumstances , she has failed. I believe that anyone who didnt live through that could not fathom what they endured. my thought for you is if it was your loved ones hiding and dieing would you laugh then because someone like you somewhere just may find your tragedy funny too.

  8. 1 Feb 2009 at 2:28 am

    you live for many of yeary
    ang you was good at acting and writing

  9. Alexandra Santillan
    1 Feb 2009 at 12:20 pm

    te kiero Anna Frank no komo IDOLO si no …KOMO UNA GRAN DEMOSTRACION Y TESTIMONIANCIA DE LA REALIDAD… att LUPITA FROM:ECUADOR SOUTH AMERICA

  10. eman
    6 Feb 2009 at 8:43 pm

    this is very interesting !
    i wish i could meet someone from there family and no how it was back then ?
    life must be hard ? really hard ?
    the saddiest part off all is that they could off lived but they died just some day’s be4 ?
    if you have any info plaese e-mail me at eman_winxclub@hotmail.com
    thank you

    r.i.p
    franks family and the other that died then

  11. APU
    11 Feb 2009 at 7:45 am

    I HAVE READ THE BOOK AND I LOVED NOT ONLY HER ELOQENCE BUT ASO HER NEVER SAY DIE SPIRIT !
    IT’S SAD THAT PEOPLE DONT UNDERSTAND THE HARDSHIPS JEWS HAD TO FACE DURING HITLERS REIGN .
    THE FEELINGS SHE HAD GONE THROUGH WHEN SHE WAS IN HIDING WAS SO BEAUTIFULLY EXPRESSED BY HER ,THAT IT LITERALLY MOVED ME!!!

  12. farran Lisalotte Swoboda
    13 Feb 2009 at 3:10 am

    Hey my name is Farran Lisalotte Swoboda and i am a German Jew.

    i wanted every one to know that in spite of everything that has happened in the world up to today, i still beleive that people are good at heart and that only bad things are said out of anger. My grandmother was a couple of yrs older when she was killed, About 78 yrs older.

    She was very brave and was a shame she had a bacterial disease which was caused by fleas and lice.

    My Sister died a couple of months ago because of a tumor, i only wish it was me instead of her and tell her one last time how much i miss her. And i’m sorry for not mentioning her in my book that i writing. I haven’t actually read the book of Anne Frank, one of my friends sent me to the page to have a look. Maybe it is possible for reincarnation, maybe it’s not.

    May peace come to all that love you and may those who love you always be with you forever.

    Farran

  13. Kendall
    17 Feb 2009 at 10:24 am

    omg i love anne frank!! her story is so much fun to read!! to bad she didnt live tho..=(

  14. LARRY TAYLOR
    17 Feb 2009 at 12:01 pm

    ANNE&MARGOT FRANK MAY YOU REST IN PEACE

  15. ME AGIAN LARRY
    17 Feb 2009 at 12:03 pm

    WE JUST THE PLAY OF THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK AND I WAS MR.VANN DANN

  16. Gena
    17 Feb 2009 at 2:47 pm

    I have great respect for Anne Frank who only wanted to be “normal” but was caught up in a time in history that was beyond anything her or her family could do, try as they might. They seemed to “just miss” with everything, and it all ended for them except Mr. Frank. The one thing I wish the youth of today could learn from her is the correct use of language. Her vocabulary, and the ways she was able to express herself is something that is critically lacking in thousands of young Americans now. It seems they neither can speak correctly nor can they spell! She wanted to be remembered and it is her beautiful use of words that has allowed that to happen.

  17. a friends of annes
    25 Feb 2009 at 6:32 pm

    I am an actual survivor of the holocaust. I was actually a friend of anne and she was always energetic and hiper. I was very sadwhen I had found out that my dear friend Anne had died. If you would like more info on her contact me at victim_holocaust@yahoo.com.

  18. alexander
    1 Mar 2009 at 3:16 am

    i do not mean to be sencetive but i cried when reading that book

  19. Anne
    3 Mar 2009 at 4:37 pm

    my 8th grade english class is reading her diary, i cant believe that she and her family and other family and people had to go through that. i cant beilve that hitler was elected and did what he did. that is so wrong. and the sad part is that her and her sister both died on the same day with the same diease. and im glad that her father published her diary, so that people can read and image how bad the holcaust is. i wish i could me someone that is still live that had to go throew that.

  20. lissette
    5 Mar 2009 at 2:19 pm

    this story was so sad i can’t find the words to speak i wish i new her i think that should have not died she had a purpose not like me she disserved to live

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