The Diary of Anne Frank

Anne Frank

Summary

        “The Diary of Anne Frank” tells the story of Anne and her family's struggles while they were hiding during World War II. The family hoped to evade the Nazis because of their Jewish faith. Another family of three people and a dentist hid with Anne and her family. This meant that eight people hid in the small Annex that was attached to the back of Mr. Frank's business. While they are hiding in the Secret Annex Anne, who is only 13, started the process of growing up and maturing, while dealing with the realities of the war and the fear of being killed. Unfortunately, after 2 years of hiding, someone had found out about their hiding space and told the Nazis. Anne’s entire family and the other family of three were sent to concentration camps. Anne, along with her mother and sister, did not survive. Anne’s father, Otto was the only one from the family who had survived. After the war, her father had spent the rest of his life publishing and talking about Anne’s diary.

“I sometimes wonder if anyone will ever understand what I mean, if anyone will ever overlook my ingratitude and not worry about whether or not I’m Jewish and merely see me as a teenager badly in need of some good, plain fun.”

        In this passage from December 24, 1943, Anne reminds us that she is just a normal young girl who has been forced into extraordinary circumstances. The diary has such emotional impact because we see Anne not as Jew, but as a normal girl with real human feelings and imperfections who had fallen as a victim to the tragedy of the Holocaust.

Analysis

Anne Frank is one of the most famous victims of the Nazi abuse. Her diary had allowed her reader and I know a teenage girl who shared her thoughts and experiences in an honest way. Anne Frank was just a normal teenage girl who had died in a concentration camp simply because she was Jewish. 
        I choose “The Diary of Anne Frank” because we can learn many things from it. It teaches how there is nobility in human compassion.  And it's also about a young girl trying to survive in her teenage years.  Many teens including me can relate to such a book because Anne goes through the normal teenager life, even though she's locked up. I totally agree with Anne and her thoughts about the Holocaust.  I could totally relate how she had felt hiding with her entire family while she was fourteen and how her body was maturing up. I love how positive Anne was, after all the Nazis have done Anne still had thought “of all the beauty still left around [her] and be happy.” I could relate to Anne a lot when she “think[s] a lot…[doesn’t] say much.” All of these feelings she has can relate to most teenagers, no matter what year it is. Although it teaches of the Holocaust and what the Jews went through, it reaches out to the reader to make the story more realistic and believable.
        The “Diary of Anne Frank” is important and relevant today because if Anne Frank had not kept a diary, we would still know about the events of the Holocaust and we would still know that certain Jewish families were hidden by kind-hearted, caring, and sacrificial people.  What we wouldn't necessarily know is how it felt to be in those circumstances.  What we wouldn't understand is that, despite the unusual life Anne led, she was not so different from any other teenager. And yet today countries like Syria and Iraq have wars and innocent kids and adults get punished. Yet still people are still killed because of the religion or the race they belong to. Anne Frank had spread positive words throughout her diary to express what she had gone through. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is still important because humans are still getting hate and punished because of the religion or race they belong to. We never want such a historical blunder to happen again.