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. CaitlinGirlll
    1 Feb 2007 at 12:02 pm

    I’ve read her diary several times, and it’s just so incredibly hard to bear the fact that the stuff that went on during the HOlocaust were real events. Her diary was really sad and all, but i loved reading it, because you really got to realize HOW someone felt, WHEN they were actually experienceing it all. Sorry, I had to write that! I found this site and had to post my opinion.

  2. Tylor
    3 Feb 2007 at 3:37 pm

    my name is Tylor Richardson.
    My middle school just read the play of Anne Frank,
    and as soon as I heard the name, I knew it ment SOMETHING.
    ever since I was little, I’ve told my mom somethings in another language[ Geraman I belive. and I only speak english, so i do no know what I am saying], I’ve written out things, that i later found were EXATLY what Anne wrote in her diary, word for word. I have visons[or as some say, flashbacks] of sitting in a room quietly, writing in a diary. And I live in California, I’ve only just recently seen pictures of the Annex.
    So,
    Call it whatever youd like.
    I’m kind-of scared,
    even though I shouldnt be.
    you can e-mail me here; oneappallo@aol.com
    -Tylor

  3. haley
    6 Feb 2007 at 2:43 pm

    hey

    we just read the diary of anne frank in my 8th grade language class i thought it was really good and so did the rest of my class but what i dont get is why did peter like anne and not margot. margot was peters age and anne was a few years younger?

  4. 10 Feb 2007 at 6:48 pm

    Dear My good friend,

    I’ve seen many good things and bad things that happen on some of your books… I feel unhappy about these horrible deaths and bad news…I hope your true friend Hannah Goslar is well as well as you are. I’ve only read these books about you: The Memories of Anne Frank as well as The Diaries of a Young Girl-Anne Frank. I hope you are well up in the sky(heaven) where you release your stress and don’t worry about these problems in the earth. Sometimes I say to myself, ” Why must Anne Frank go through these terrible disasters and heart-breaking emotins?” I was here on 2/10/07… You are my hero Anne Frank

    Yours Truly,
    Vivian

  5. lylla
    17 Feb 2007 at 5:30 am

    Bonjour mon nom est lylla et je suis française .J’ai lu le journal d’Anne Frank et j’ai trouvé ce livre tres émouvant !!!!

  6. Teri
    21 Feb 2007 at 5:50 pm

    Bonjour mon nom est Teri(hi my name is Teri). Je habite Indianapolis( I live in Inianapolis).Ma langue originel est anglais( My original language is english). je début juste fait d’apprendre( I just started learning). The book Anne Frank: A Diary of a young girl is very sad and heart warming. If it was me i would not have been able to face the facts and write about wat was goin’ on.

  7. Dagmar
    23 Feb 2007 at 4:15 am

    I like the diary. I’ve read it. And I’ll hope some other people will learn from it. Anne was a strong girl and I look upon her!

  8. katie lou
    24 Feb 2007 at 1:18 am

    i feel sooooooooooo sorry for anne and her family because they dident even do nothing to die i mean they dident kill a person like adolf hitler did he should have been the one that sufferd in the camp r.i.p anne,margot and edith xxx here is my email:k8mundychillin07@hotmail.co.uk

  9. zoe
    8 Mar 2007 at 7:52 am

    very moving a very nice srory u were very brave

  10. 8 Mar 2007 at 7:53 am

    well wat can i say very very very very very beautiful u are extremely brave u no
    i hav 2 commend u 4 dat

  11. Monique Nguyen
    9 Mar 2007 at 7:34 pm

    Thank you for whoever posted the blog about Anne Frank. It helped me a lot when I had to do a report on Anne Frank. Anne Frank was very young when she died, I think that was really sad. That is why I hate the person who told on her. If the person who didn’t tell on her I think she would’ve lived for an even longer time. If she was alive right now do you know she’d be 78 years old?

    Thank You for Anne Frank’s blog you biggest fan,
    Monique Nguyen

  12. anomonous (or anomynous)
    9 Mar 2007 at 7:39 pm

    Anne Frank you rule!!!! |,,,|(-_-)|,,,|

    If you were alive you’d be happy with hair!!!! (//-_\\)
    // \\

  13. angelica
    10 Mar 2007 at 4:06 pm

    i just finished reading anne franks diary. its a real thought-provoking book. anne is a fantastic writer. although she uses a lot of big words, i still admire her personalities.
    whoever wrote that “anne sucks!” comment, for your information its not as bad as you think.
    its kinda ironic that a hundred years after anne wrote her diary people from all over the world would be interested to read. and i mean, it is interesting!

    i hope someone would email me, cause now im really sad.
    here’s my email,
    black_lliad@hotmail.com

  14. AnonyMous( the kool name)
    10 Mar 2007 at 5:19 pm

    Anne Frank diary is a really sad book. My friend and I are doing our NHD project on jews and it was a really good primary source. I feel really bad 4 her. My grandpa survived the war and when he tells me about it, i think in my head, that he was really lucky he survived. + our family is Jewish

  15. Hannah
    12 Mar 2007 at 12:14 pm

    I wish you had survived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  16. Lorna Mutua
    20 Mar 2007 at 4:55 pm

    I miss you, Anne.

  17. lili
    20 Mar 2007 at 5:23 pm

    Hey umm what a sad story, if only she would have survive, then maybe she would’ve been really famous.

  18. alicxsgirl
    22 Mar 2007 at 10:43 am

    awwhhh i feel sadd for her=(
    i had tah watch the movie in homroom it was sadd….and silly

  19. Nicole
    22 Mar 2007 at 3:52 pm

    Anne was a remarkable young woman and she would have been free if she just lived a week longer. she did not deserve to die, nor did any of the other holocaust victims, but we would not be able to read her diary if she had lived.

    p.s. stop saying you r annes soul recycled cause…YOUR NOT!!!!!!

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