Anne of 1000 Days
The Story of Children in the Shoah is a particularly bitter one, but of all the stories about Children who either survived or perished, there is one story that has so touched the heart of the world, that few surpass it. The Story is that of Anne Frank, a German Jewish girl and her family: parents Otto and Edith, her sister Margot and their friends which came to share the bittersweet life in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland, and later the horror and tragedy of separation and death in Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. The Story reaches every heart not because Anne was so very unique, which she was, but because she was so similar to other 13 year olds, so similar to our daughters, or sisters. She wrote as a growing up child, and responded to life with a childlike sophistication.Anne Frank and Family
Otto Frank, Anne's Father born on May 12, 1889, (the year of Hitler's Birth) married her mother Edith Hollander in 1925. Her older sister Margot was born in 1926 on February 26, and Annelise was born June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Of German-Jewish descent, Anne's Father was initially a manager of Opekta Werkes, a company dealing in spices and foodstuffs*, which he later came to own and would transfer under another name to Amsterdam. [Mssrs Gies & Company]. Otto Frank was an
austere German businessman, but was a gentle spirited husband and father at home.The Flight to Amsterdam
Hitler took complete power over Germany after January 1933, and the face of Germany changed forever. He immediately began to make life extremely difficult for Jews such as the Frank family, by increasing segregation, limiting civil rights, and defrauding Jewish families out of their houses, property and businesses. Many Jewish heads of families lost their jobs even in the first year. Hitler and his men worked very quickly to erase the citizenship of Jews, making them guests in their own country. (See Jewish Civil Liberties Timeline) Against this backdrop, the Frank family decided they could no longer live in their homeland, and began to plan to move their business and dwelling to Amsterdam, where By the end of summer, Otto Frank had moved his business interests and company to Amsterdam. Anne's Grandmother moved to Switzerland shortly after. Before the year was out, Edith Frank and her oldest daughter, Margot, went ahead to the Netherlands, followed soon by Anne. From the descriptions in her diary life in the Netherlands was fairly normal, they did not experience the segregation of German society, and Anne was placed in a Montessori School. Later the girls would attend a Jewish School in Amsterdam. In 1940, Opekta Werkes moved to the now famous Otto, Anne's Father would hand the business into the hands of his friends, the Gieps. While life was normal except for the encroaching war in Holland, word was received that Anne's Grandmother had died. The same year, 1942, she was given a special gift for her birthday: a diary. Unknown to her at the time, the small plaid book with a lock which she meant to keep 'very secret' became known worldwide many years later.The Family Business Becomes a Hiding Place
Holland had only 2 fortunes in the war: it was late to be occupied, and it had
a strong Dutch Reform and Protestant population many of which supported Jewish
freedom. The Resistance movement in Holland was one of the strongest. As the Nazis took control of Holland, their Queen, Wilhemina, left the country for exile in
Great Britain, but continued to make broadcasts from their encouraging her
people to be strong. As the Nazis took control, local police were enlisted, and
who to trust became a very difficult decision. Some police and other officials helped
the resistance movement but others turned any one in even suspected of helping the Jews. In 1942, On July 5th, sixteen year old Margot received a "Call for Deportation" to go to the Labor Camp of Westerbork. Westerbork itself was a dismal prison using slave labor for the war, and a way station for Auschwitz, Hinzert and other death camps. Otto Frank knew that if his daughter was sent, she might never return. He had for months made arrangements, and the next day, July 6th, Anne and her family carrying very little and dressed in layers of clothes walked calmly to her Father's business. Only one would again be seen after the war.The office and business affairs had been turned over to the Gieps: Mies, the wife would over the next 2 years make arrangements for supplies and food, through contacts and 'arrangments'. The rooms that would be occupied by the Franks were very small in the attic portion. A bookcase was built over the entrance, making it look like there were no other rooms. For 25 months, Edith, Otto and 13 year old Anne and 16 year old Margot would spend their days in utter quiet during the day and minimal normal family life for the duration. While in the beginning food was reasonable, as the war dragged on, good and plentiful food became hard to get.
Within a week, they were joined by the Van Pels who had fled to Holland in 1937 from Osnabruck. They had a teenage son Peter, whom both girls appeared to have a crush on. The small rooms became even smaller. The 8th and final resident was a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer arriving in the middle of November. All settled down to wait out the war, with little contact from the outside world except the Gieps and an occasional radio broadcast. During this time to combat boredom and practice her writing skills, Anne wrote copiously in her diary about everything from movie stars to the changes in her life and person. She showed the great promise of an aspiring writer, the thing she had hoped for. She left little out,including family spats, holidays, grumblings about conditions, favor for Miep and all the things that grasp the attention of most 13-15 year olds. The twenty five months dragged on,until their discovery.
The Capture
The families had learned to keep very quiet during the day, not even walking around if possible.
At night they had more liberty. Towards the end, though, they had a suspicion or two, but no evidence of a Jewish family in hiding came forward. For 2 years their presence was not detected: they had one close call which turned out to be a burglar. It is now thought that either the burglar or a disgruntled former employee may have turned them in. In either case, the family was found by the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944 and taken to the local Police Station. Within four
days, they were all remanded to Westerbork Slave Labor Camp, which held no surprises, for on September 3rd of 1944, they were forced on a cattle car bound to Auschwitz. It was the last train to Auschwitz from Westerbork.
The Fate of Family & Friends
The history of what happened next is bitter, for all but Otto perished. Mr Van Pels was gassed on September 6th, three days after arrival in Oswecizm. Mrs Van Pels died in Terezin in the spring of 1945. Peter Van Pels, Anne and Margots teenage friend, died in May 1945 at Mauthausen. Otto Frank was sent to the men's side of Auschwitz Birkenau, and his wife remained with the women; some have reported that towards the end of her life she began to breakdown and lose hope, and starving, would hoard food for her children believing they would be reunited and need it. She died tragically on January 26, 1945, on the day before liberation. Anne and Margot had been sent to Bergen-Belsen, which towards the end of the war was also a fully functioning killing center. Both perished of typhus, again a short time before liberation, in tragic irony. Only Otto Franks, the stoic father and husband, survived to return to his friends the Gieps on Prinsengracht Street in Amsterdam.The Discovered Diary
When Otto Franks returned to Amsterdam, he did not know what had happened to his girls or wife. For several months, like everyone else in Europe, he began to contact the Red Cross and other government organization which might have news of his family. Starved and weak, his hope and recovery were kept alive in expectation of reunion. Finally, the notices came, that his wife, children and friends had all perished. Everything Franks had ever had was gone. Mies Giep, when Otto first arrived back at his business, gave him some papers that Anne had left, among them were the diaries. The diaries were all Mr Frank had left from his family: the memories, the good and the bad, and the youthful handwriting on worn paper. Later, Frank was persuaded to publish the diary. Although reluctant at first he agreed. and soon the 'secret' diary was mentioned was in 1946 but by 1947, 1500 copies had appeared in the US. In the 1950s, the story became widely published, including in English and the famous play "The Diary of Anne Frank" became very successful. Otto Frank lived to see his daughter's and family's memories preserved for the future.The Anne Frank Legacy
The Anne Frank Story has pre-eminence over perhaps any other story during the time of the Shoah.
By the 1960s
the Anne Frank House had been restored and become a museum and resource for Holocaust Education and tolerance: the play was made into a film. In 1980, Otto Frank died, knowing his efforts had been successful. Mies Giep, in the Mies Giep story, told the story from her perspective in 1988. "The Diary of Anne Frank" lives on as one of the bestsellers of all time, and required reading in most classrooms. The Legacy of Anne Frank, though is even larger than all this. In one passage of her diary, she writes, "I want to go on living, even after my death". Even as a teen in the Shoah, she understood the eminent danger they were in: it is though she sensed her death clearly, but refused to give up hope. She had indeed, "gone on living after her death". She has taught that hope to every school child who has read her diary and shared those 25 sequestered months, hiding from men without conscience. She has taught that there is purpose even in the face tragedy, and that no life, so small or unattended is without worth. In her death, she taught life.