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. Maggie
    25 Jan 2008 at 7:47 pm

    I am currently reading “Anne Frank, The Diary Of A Young Girl” and I am hooked. I keep catching myself thinking, “Gee this author sure makes it sound real” then i realize that I am reading an ACTUAL diary of a real person! If Anne Frank was still alive she would be a famous author she is so good!

    She has inspired me to keep a diary myself. (Which is something that I have tried many times but it never worked before) Now I realize that it is fun.

    If you think about it, she is just like a normal kid. She writes about feuding with her family and the Van Daans, having a crush on a boy, and what she had for dinner.

  2. Cat
    26 Jan 2008 at 11:11 am

    Anne Frank was a very brave and the best and I wished she had survived. I am glad she is in better hands though. But when I die, I promise to see and greet her. I promise to see my grandpa too. I love you both. Take care.
    Yours Truley,
    Cassie

  3. P-Dude
    26 Jan 2008 at 11:32 am

    whoever thinks anne is ans idiot YOU SUCK!!!

  4. katie
    26 Jan 2008 at 12:07 pm

    hitler why r u so mean why did u kill all those innocent people …… i am glad u r dead!!1

  5. p-dude
    26 Jan 2008 at 3:37 pm

    hitler……….YOU SUCK!!!

  6. Lynnda
    27 Jan 2008 at 1:19 pm

    HITLER AND FOLLOWERS YOU SUCK BIG TIME!!!
    And to all those people with visions of themselves being Anne Frank, I don’t believe. Prove it!

  7. tt
    29 Jan 2008 at 1:36 am

    hej får vi låna era bilder till ett skol arbete vi skriver var vi tagit bildena ifrån

  8. 31 Jan 2008 at 4:47 pm

    hello my name is karen im a middle schooler we are reading and learning about anne frank and the holocast i think its so sad that little kids and babys had to go though this.im so interested into this. i was never interested into any thing eles but this. well i fell so sorry for anne frank and all of the other people that died. 🙁

  9. Sabrina
    1 Feb 2008 at 9:09 pm

    This is a sad story and how her’s was not finshed but the love a care of a family she had was all she needed,and whoever turned them in to the German was a odd and mean person.She was to little to die and the way she did is now what we call a slow and painful death.I almost cried watching a movie about her and I am going to get her book.Like she said “As soon as we all get out of here I am going to plubish a book,” I think she said that I can’t rember that well but I know she said she wanted to publish a book and she got that but she never live to see that she did,and her dream about being a seagull was upsetting to me because before she died she asked someone about her dream and she was so pale,paler thatn she was in the place she was staying at.She had frostbite and she was dieing of a sickiness I can’t rember what is was called again, but she did not have to die if it wasen’t for the person who truned them in, and if they do find out who he/she is and he/she is dead I hope they rot in hell because she did not dersurve to die like that so young and special then she dies of a sickness and frostbit.It’s just so upsetting that that person did that and did not care!And to this day no one nows who that person is!I just hope that people will learn to resept others and not be races.And I am glad to knoe that there is still people in this world who care about Anne Frank.

    -Sabrina
    May Anne Frank Rest In Peace.

  10. Caitlin
    2 Feb 2008 at 4:28 pm

    I am a BIG FAN of Anne Frank’s diary. I’ve read it twice so far! Anne’s love for having fun and acting like a little toddler is the one personality in her that relates to my personality. Even though I’m 15-years-old, I still like to act like a little kid. I also like to let out my opinions on certain things in my life. Unlike Anne, I can’t keep most of my opinions to myself. I like the idea of putting all of your opinions in a diary, where no person can find out about them, and that keeps you safe from getting into trouble. The best similarity between me and Anne is our passion for writing in a diary, as well as made up stories.

    When I write in my diary these days, I give the diary a name, so that I can feel like I’m really talking to someone. Anne inspired me to do this when she named her diary “Kitty.” I call the person I’m writing to Anne Frank.

    All My Love,
    Caitlin J.C.(these are my last two initials)

  11. carly
    9 Feb 2008 at 8:58 pm

    i love the diary of anne frank she is much like me because we are both optimistic witty and outgoing and plus we are both born in the same month june!her diary is true and very understandable even when there are things she is talking about that we might not get today because we have not lived during such a horrible time like she did.but im getting these strange dreams where im anne and im running away with peter van dann away from the natzi’s its quite strange like there are bombs going off and search lights and sirens i dont wake up from the dream because its interesting to see how it might have been to run from hitler’s troops and armies…i am so glad people remember anne frank and i hope they still do centeries from now its very important to remeber things like the holocaust to keep it from happening ever again the movie the diary of anne frank swept me away especially the romance between her and peter that was like the 40’s version of the notebook it takes place during the same time anyways in both movies anyways. but may anne frank and margot frank and all the rest of the occupants of the secret annex rest in peace forever more we all wish u did’nt die in such a tragic way we’re sorry but we will always remember your story

  12. kristy
    9 Feb 2008 at 9:03 pm

    we should have caught hitler before he killed himself and tortured him maybe even treat him the way he treated the jews he killed so many innocent people just because he dint like their religion that is bull hitler i hope u dont rest in peace i hope u rest in torture and destruction and guess what his parents were so ashamed i think they changed their last name from hitler to something else Adolf Hitler look what you did u no good person

  13. Dan
    9 Feb 2008 at 11:31 pm

    Hello to everyone. I appreciate reading everyones opinion about the diary of Anne Frank. When i read the book I was moved by the story, and how just a child at the time can make such a compelling ripple in the world. That sometimes the world alone feels so seperated and judgemental. When really what I feel she compelled in her last verses is that from what she went through there is still good in everyone. after being done with the book I was given something more than just words on a peice of paper. I was given a burning sensation that hope, honor, and love is the only true unchanging things that can help all of us achieve greatness in any accomplishment wheather large or small. I have to give thanks to Anne Frank for her true spirit living on for all of us to admire. I also have to give thanks to the people that still speak with openess and able to come forward to give their views on what inspires them the most. Most blessings to all, Dan

  14. esparanza
    10 Feb 2008 at 10:36 pm

    hey

    well i read the play with my class and we all had parts if we wanted 1
    i was mrs. van daan lol
    well i felt ssssssssoooooooo bad about wat happend in the end i wanted 2 cry
    well im happy that shes in a better place now
    luv u anne

  15. 11 Feb 2008 at 10:12 am

    DAMN THOSE NAZIZ

  16. Dewi Hadin
    12 Feb 2008 at 4:03 am

    Hi,
    my name is Dewi and I’m from Indonesia. I read the translated Anne Frank’s Diary last night and I’m so impressed how the Franks Family kept their intellectual life going by reading, taking course, translating books, and so on…in THAT CONDITION. This part is very impressing for me.

  17. Ashantia
    15 Feb 2008 at 2:46 pm

    I feel so sorry for them I can’t beleive Anne died when she was 15 and Margot was 16 they are my romodels I keep my personal diary myself they were soooooooo young 🙁

  18. gaurav
    16 Feb 2008 at 9:14 am

    i jsut finished reading the book. i got it frm a library. i cried in the last. iam not able to move my eyes of the cover page which has her photo on it. her eyes depict all the sorrow at the same time they tell about the innosence in them. i am not able to stop thinking about Anne. she went through hell. i have developed a very deep respect for the Jews, thanks to Anne. i am frantically searching for more & more information about her & others.
    i want to say so much only iam not able to find the correct words. i think this book will change my life & my priorities.
    IN LOVING MEMORY OF ANNE FRANK & ALL OTHERS.

  19. ARUHASHA
    18 Feb 2008 at 3:22 am

    IT IS A VERY VERY SAD STORY….
    I HOPE I CAN BETRAY ADOLF HITLER AS WELL IF HE WAS ALIVE…
    OH… ANNE, WE MISS YOU!!

  20. Taylor
    21 Feb 2008 at 3:27 pm

    I so wish I could have met my cousin Anne Frank! I want her to live now! Oh she is a great role model!

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