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On this date in 1942, Anne Frank received a diary for her 13th birthday.
In 1947, the seemingly everyday, innocent thoughts of a teen girl were published. But they weren’t so everyday: they were the thoughts of Anne Frank, a 13-year-old in a unique position to make the world understand what it was like to have to hide your entire existence in exchange for a mere chance at surviving the Nazi regime. Her diary has since sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages. If you haven’t read The Diary of a Young Girl in a while (or even if you have), here are 10 things you should know.
AnneFrank.org
1. THE “DIARY” ANNE RECEIVED FOR HER 13TH BIRTHDAY WAS ACTUALLY AN AUTOGRAPH BOOK.
The aspiring writer decided it would be better used as a journal. She switched to two notebooks after the autograph book was full, and finally resorted to about 360 pages of loose leaf paper.
2. ANNE WROTE MOST OF HER DIARY IN THE FORM OF LETTERS TO A PERSON NAMED “KITTY.”
So who was Kitty? Scholars are divided. Some believe “Kitty” refers to Anne’s prewar friend, Käthe "Kitty" Egyedi. Others disagree, believing that Anne borrowed the name from her favorite book series, Joop ter Heul, in which the title character’s best friend was named Kitty. Egyedi, who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp, later said that she did not believe the letters were meant for her.
Not all of the diary was addressed to Kitty, by the way. Early letters were also addressed to Conny, Marianne, Emmy, and Pop.
3. ANNE AND HER FAMILY WERE FOUND WHEN THEY WERE BETRAYED BY SOMEONE—ANONYMOUS TO THIS DAY—WHO KNEW WHERE THEY WERE HIDING.
German officers raided the building and made arrests on August 4, 1944. The arresting officer, Karl Silberbauer, later said he vividly remembered arresting the Franks, and even told Otto Frank, “What a lovely daughter you have.” When Silberbauer’s actions were discovered in 1963, he was suspended from his job at the Viennese police force. He is quoted as saying, “Why pick on me after all these years? I only did my duty. Now I am suspended and I have just bought some new furniture and how am I going to pay for it?" After an investigation, he was allowed to return to his job.
Silberbauer also later admitted that he bought a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl to see if he had been featured. He wasn’t. “Maybe I should have picked it up off the floor,” he said.
4. ANNE DIED IN BERGEN-BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP, BUT NOT IN THE GAS CHAMBERS.
Emaciated, she had already lost her mother to starvation, her sister to typhus, and believed her father to be dead. Three days after her sister’s death, Anne herself succumbed to typhus in March 1945. The camp was liberated by British troops a few weeks later.
5. OF THE EIGHT PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN HIDING IN THE SECRET ANNEX—ANNE, HER SISTER, HER PARENTS, THE VAN PELS FAMILY, AND A MAN NAMED FRITZ PFEFFER—ONLY ONE SURVIVED.
Otto Frank, Anne’s father, survived Auschwitz and was liberated by Soviet soldiers in January 1945. By summer, he learned that his daughters and his wife were all dead. Here’s Otto talking about Anne’s diary:
6. OTTO FRANK WAS GIVEN ANNE’S DIARY BY MIEP GIES, ONE OF THE DUTCH CITIZENS WHO HELPED HIDE THE FRANKS.
Gies collected the diaries and papers after soldiers left and hoped to be able to return them to Anne one day. After receiving the pages, Otto submitted them for publication, knowing that was what Anne had intended. The first edition of the diary was called Het Achterhuis, “The Back House.”
7. HAD MIEP GIES LOOKED AT THE CONTENTS OF THE DIARY, WE NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TO READ ANNE’S INNERMOST THOUGHTS.
Gies later said that if she had known what was inside, she would have destroyed the writings because they incriminated everyone who helped hide the Franks, the van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer. Otto Frank finally persuaded her to read it when the book was in its second printing.
8. THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL IS OFTEN ON THE CONTROVERSIAL BOOKS LIST, BUT NOT FOR REASONS YOU MIGHT THINK.
There are passages in the diary in which Anne expresses curiosity about her anatomy—a totally normal thing for a girl in her teens to do. In fact, the passage is more humorous than “pornographic,” as some protesters have called it:
"There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!"
9. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN THE DUMBEST REASON PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO HAVE THE BOOK BANNED FROM SCHOOLS.
In 1983, a school in Alabama tried to block Anne’s diary from schools simply because it was “a real downer.”
10. SOME PEOPLE—MOSTLY HOLOCAUST DENIERS—BELIEVE THAT ANNE FRANK’S DIARY IS A FORGERY.
In an effort to put these rumors to rest, the documents were analyzed for handwriting, glue and binding methods, and the types of ink and paper. Nothing was found that would even remotely point to the diary being a fake.
To end, I give you the only existing footage of Anne Frank, taken as she watched a neighbor get married on July 22, 1941.
This post originally appeared in 2012.
In 1947, the seemingly everyday, innocent thoughts of a teen girl were published. But they weren’t so everyday: they were the thoughts of Anne Frank, a 13-year-old in a unique position to make the world understand what it was like to have to hide your entire existence in exchange for a mere chance at surviving the Nazi regime. Her diary has since sold more than 30 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages. If you haven’t read The Diary of a Young Girl in a while (or even if you have), here are 10 things you should know.
AnneFrank.org
1. THE “DIARY” ANNE RECEIVED FOR HER 13TH BIRTHDAY WAS ACTUALLY AN AUTOGRAPH BOOK.
The aspiring writer decided it would be better used as a journal. She switched to two notebooks after the autograph book was full, and finally resorted to about 360 pages of loose leaf paper.
2. ANNE WROTE MOST OF HER DIARY IN THE FORM OF LETTERS TO A PERSON NAMED “KITTY.”
So who was Kitty? Scholars are divided. Some believe “Kitty” refers to Anne’s prewar friend, Käthe "Kitty" Egyedi. Others disagree, believing that Anne borrowed the name from her favorite book series, Joop ter Heul, in which the title character’s best friend was named Kitty. Egyedi, who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp, later said that she did not believe the letters were meant for her.
Not all of the diary was addressed to Kitty, by the way. Early letters were also addressed to Conny, Marianne, Emmy, and Pop.
3. ANNE AND HER FAMILY WERE FOUND WHEN THEY WERE BETRAYED BY SOMEONE—ANONYMOUS TO THIS DAY—WHO KNEW WHERE THEY WERE HIDING.
German officers raided the building and made arrests on August 4, 1944. The arresting officer, Karl Silberbauer, later said he vividly remembered arresting the Franks, and even told Otto Frank, “What a lovely daughter you have.” When Silberbauer’s actions were discovered in 1963, he was suspended from his job at the Viennese police force. He is quoted as saying, “Why pick on me after all these years? I only did my duty. Now I am suspended and I have just bought some new furniture and how am I going to pay for it?" After an investigation, he was allowed to return to his job.
Silberbauer also later admitted that he bought a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl to see if he had been featured. He wasn’t. “Maybe I should have picked it up off the floor,” he said.
4. ANNE DIED IN BERGEN-BELSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP, BUT NOT IN THE GAS CHAMBERS.
Emaciated, she had already lost her mother to starvation, her sister to typhus, and believed her father to be dead. Three days after her sister’s death, Anne herself succumbed to typhus in March 1945. The camp was liberated by British troops a few weeks later.
5. OF THE EIGHT PEOPLE WHO HAD BEEN HIDING IN THE SECRET ANNEX—ANNE, HER SISTER, HER PARENTS, THE VAN PELS FAMILY, AND A MAN NAMED FRITZ PFEFFER—ONLY ONE SURVIVED.
Otto Frank, Anne’s father, survived Auschwitz and was liberated by Soviet soldiers in January 1945. By summer, he learned that his daughters and his wife were all dead. Here’s Otto talking about Anne’s diary:
6. OTTO FRANK WAS GIVEN ANNE’S DIARY BY MIEP GIES, ONE OF THE DUTCH CITIZENS WHO HELPED HIDE THE FRANKS.
Gies collected the diaries and papers after soldiers left and hoped to be able to return them to Anne one day. After receiving the pages, Otto submitted them for publication, knowing that was what Anne had intended. The first edition of the diary was called Het Achterhuis, “The Back House.”
7. HAD MIEP GIES LOOKED AT THE CONTENTS OF THE DIARY, WE NEVER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN TO READ ANNE’S INNERMOST THOUGHTS.
Gies later said that if she had known what was inside, she would have destroyed the writings because they incriminated everyone who helped hide the Franks, the van Pels, and Fritz Pfeffer. Otto Frank finally persuaded her to read it when the book was in its second printing.
8. THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL IS OFTEN ON THE CONTROVERSIAL BOOKS LIST, BUT NOT FOR REASONS YOU MIGHT THINK.
There are passages in the diary in which Anne expresses curiosity about her anatomy—a totally normal thing for a girl in her teens to do. In fact, the passage is more humorous than “pornographic,” as some protesters have called it:
"There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!"
9. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN THE DUMBEST REASON PEOPLE HAVE TRIED TO HAVE THE BOOK BANNED FROM SCHOOLS.
In 1983, a school in Alabama tried to block Anne’s diary from schools simply because it was “a real downer.”
10. SOME PEOPLE—MOSTLY HOLOCAUST DENIERS—BELIEVE THAT ANNE FRANK’S DIARY IS A FORGERY.
In an effort to put these rumors to rest, the documents were analyzed for handwriting, glue and binding methods, and the types of ink and paper. Nothing was found that would even remotely point to the diary being a fake.
To end, I give you the only existing footage of Anne Frank, taken as she watched a neighbor get married on July 22, 1941.
This post originally appeared in 2012.
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75FIt is really cooler today and this will trick us into believing it will become cooler. Our hot summer will keep on aftert this week. We will not be fooled. Sandra, one of our regrets is not being able to visit Great Britain and travel for two weeks when younger. As we age we just become slower and that really takes away from travel. Our retirement did the same thing with age 65 vs 67 also if...
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Hiya,It's cloudy with the occasional show of sunshine. It was sooo hot last night, felt like the worst night this year, which is odd because it's been incredibly hot this summer for us. Maybe I just felt it last night.Still, it's all going to change now and the weather will shift. Of course there's going to be a few more nice days left this month and next, but essentially I guess the "hot...
thanks for sharing, Dixie!
The strength and courage of people when put against adverse situation is amazing, not only for Anne and her family, but the family that put them up.
My grandfather would smuggle Jewish families out of Holland during the war and was caught doing so and was on a train for a concentration camp. He escaped from the train and for three years my father would have to hide him from the Nazi's who came looking for him. He would have to bury him alive until the danger passed.
Those who forget will repeat the past.
It is important that we don't allow human rights of any minority to go unchallenged, just because it doesn't affect us directly. In the end, it does affect us all.
Angela thank you for sharing the part your family played during this horrible time.
Your grandfather was a very brave and caring man. I agree with all you write.
Dixie, thank you so much for sharing this. I read "The Dairy of Anne Frank" as a child as I think we all did. As sad as it is to hear more information about her young life that was not covered in the book, it was comforting and sad at the same time. But I was good to hear it. God bless her sweet soul.
Angela, thank you for sharing your Grandfather's story. What a great man he was as well as your Father! What a difficult time that was. I'm thinking saying "difficult" is putting it quite mildly. Horrific may be the better word.
God bless to all my dear Hen's. And I pray that no one will ever forget.