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| The first page of her diary. Photo: Anne Frank Stichting |
- Anne Frank
June 12th 1942 was the thirteenth birthday of one of the most insightful and distinguished girls in history. Anne Frank received her legendary red and white checkered diary on this day, prompting the budding writer to record the Frank family's secret existence behind the famous wardrobe.
Only a month or so after Anne begins her diary, her sister Margot receives notice to report to a concentration camp, thus pressing the family into hiding in The Secret Annex. Although the Annex was quite spacious, and housed eight people, you can imagine that emotions ran high in such a confinement, and Anne even includes some of her teen tantrums with her mother in her diary. After 760 days of hiding at Prinsengracht 263 Amsterdam, the family were betrayed and transported to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps in August 1944.
Anne and Margot died soon after an outbreak of typhus in the camp, scarcely six weeks before the British liberated the camp. Anne was 15 years old when she died. Her father, Otto Frank, was the only family member to have survived Hitler's rule, after which he returned to Amsterdam, obtained her diary, and began telling the world Anne's story (with a few sections eliminated regarding Anne's puberty and the cursing of her mother!).
Anne and Margot died soon after an outbreak of typhus in the camp, scarcely six weeks before the British liberated the camp. Anne was 15 years old when she died. Her father, Otto Frank, was the only family member to have survived Hitler's rule, after which he returned to Amsterdam, obtained her diary, and began telling the world Anne's story (with a few sections eliminated regarding Anne's puberty and the cursing of her mother!).
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| Anne, May 1942 |
"I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!"
- Anne Frank
Today Anne's aspirations of being recognized as an established and renowned writer are achieved, and more.. Her work The Diary of a Young Girl has been translated into 67 different languages, and has sold more than 31 million copies worldwide. The family's hideout was eventually transformed into the Anne Frank House, a museum dedicated to teaching the world their history. In 1976 the Anne Frank House reached a record of 100,000 visitors since its opening. This was surpassed in 2007 when the museum hit the million mark, 90% of visitors comprising of foreign tourists. How remarkable that the world has so much interest in a thirteen year old's musings, in a diary that captured the unknown traumas of World War 2. As well as being Anne's favourite birthday present, that red and checkered diary has become a window to one of history's most fearful but poignant times.
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