12 June: Anne Frank

This date in 1929 saw the birth of Anne Frank, author of one of the world’s most famous diaries, written while her family were in hiding from the Nazis. 10 facts about Anne Frank:

1. Her full name was Annelies Marie Frank.
2. She started writing a diary after receiving one for her ^13th birthday. Her father had taken her out to choose one the day before her birthday.
3. There were two versions of her diary. The first was what you might call the original, in the diary she got for her birthday and a number of notebooks. This version had no entries between 5 December 1942 and 22 December 1943. In 1944, she heard a call on the radio for people to keep their wartime diaries, so she re-wrote it, with a view to publication in the future. This version has the missing entries for 1943, but other parts are omitted.
4. She wrote her diary in the form of letters to “Kitty”, the name she gave her diary. It has been speculated whether she was actually writing to a school friend called Kitty. Her actual school friend Kitty didn’t think so.
5. The family were originally from Germany, but had fled to Amsterdam to get away from the anti-Semitism in Germany. They were already planning to go into hiding on 12 July 1942 and had been preparing their secret annexe. However, they want into hiding a week early because Anne’s sister, Margot, received a call-up for a German work camp. Four other people were in hiding with them, including a German dentist and a young man called Peter, on whom Anne had a crush.
6. Anne’s sister, Margot, kept a diary, too, but hers was never found.
7. Anne had a Cat called Moortje, which had to be left behind when they went into hiding.
8. She wanted to be a writer. She wrote short stories as well as her diary and collected her favourite quotes by other writers. She wanted to study languages and history of art, possibly in Paris or London.
9. Alas, it was not to be, as an unknown person betrayed the family and they were arrested on 4 August 1944. (Although some say nobody betrayed them, but rather the Nazis were investigating fraud by the company occupying the lower floors of the building and discovered them by accident.) Anne and her sister were sent to Auschwitz and later to Belsen, where both girls died of typhus. The exact date of their deaths is not known.
10. The only person living in the annex to survive was Anne’s father, Otto. His friend Miep Gies had rescued Anne’s diary from the annex, hoping to return it to her one day. When they learned Anne had died, she gave the diary to Otto. As he read it, he recalled, “I had no idea of the depths of her thoughts and feelings.” He was initially unsure about getting the diary published, but eventually decided that he would, because it was what she would have wanted.

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