The Diary of Anne Frank has become an iconic piece of literature. The journal showcases a vivid and moving glimpse into the life of a young Jewish girl growing up in Nazi-occupied Holland during the height of Hitler’s reign. Anne recorded her daily life while hiding from the Nazis in an old warehouse in Amsterdam. But did you know that the Anne Frank Foundation added her father, Otto Frank as the co-author of her diary?
In 2015, the Anne Frank Foundation added Otto Frank as a co-author since the copyright of Anne Frank’s Diary was due to expire in 2016. This was done to prevent it from falling into the public domain.
Why is Anne Frank’s Diary An Essential Part of History?
On her thirteenth birthday in 1942, Anne Frank received a diary as a gift. At first, it was merely a safe space for her to jot down musings about friends and school and her innermost thoughts. By the time she and her family went into hiding a month after starting the diary, it became more than just a teenage girl’s journal. It served as a detailed war document.
The story of Anne Frank quickly became part of school curricula worldwide, with the diary becoming required reading in several school districts. The Diary of a Young Girl is most readers’ only in-depth work on the Holocaust.
However, the work’s fame is a double-edged sword: the diary does not depict the aftermath of Anne’s life in hiding. The imprisonment, deportation, genocide, and horrors endured by approximately six million Jews during the Nazi reign.
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. As I’ve told you many times, I’m split in two. One side contains my exuberant cheerfulness, my flippancy, my joy in life and, above all, my ability to appreciate the lighter side of things. By that I mean not finding anything wrong with flirtations, a kiss, an embrace, an off-color joke. This side of me is usually lying in wait to ambush the other one, which is much purer, deeper and finer.
Anne Frank
Why Did Otto Frank Publish her Daughter’s Diary?
Otto Frank knew Anne aspired to be a writer and had even planned to write a book about her Holocaust experiences. As a result, he believed her diary needed to be made public to fulfill his late daughter’s wishes.
When the diary was finally published in 1947, it was well-received and translated into various languages. (Source History)
What Happened to Anne Frank and Her Family After Their Arrest?
Anne and her family were transferred to a concentration camp in Holland. She and the majority of other Jews were transported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
Anne and her sister Margot were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. The sisters caught typhus while suffering in the camp’s deplorable conditions and passed away in February 1945.
Otto Frank was the only survivor of the ten Nazi death camps. After the war, he returned to Amsterdam through Russia, where he was reunited with Miep Gies, one of his ex-employees; she gave him Anne’s diary, which she had discovered undamaged after the Nazi raid. (Source History)