Anne (pronounced Anna) Frank was born to a Jewish Family on the 12th of June, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. Her sister, Margot, was three years old.
, Margot (6), with their father, Otto..jpg)
This adorable photo is of three-year-old Anne, six-year-old Margot and their father, Otto Frank.
'I lived in Frankfurt until I was four. Because we're Jewish, my father emigrated to Holland in 1933, where he became the managing director of the Dutch Opekta Company, which manufactures products used in making jam. My mother, Edith Hollander Frank, went with him to Holland in September, while Margot and I were sent to Aachen to stay with our grandmother. Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, when I was plonked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot. I started right away in Montessori nursery school. I stayed there until I was six at which time I started first form.'
Anne Frank, 20th June 1942
Anne with her classmates in the second form of Montessori school.
Anne received a diary, which she had chosen herself, for her thirteenth birthday. She called her diary 'Kitty' and wrote to Kitty like a girlfriend.
Anne stuck this photo onto the first page of her diary along with the words 'Gorgeous photo, isn't it!!!!'
'Our lives were not without anxiety, since our relatives in Germany were suffering from Hitler's anti-Jewish laws.'
Anne Frank 20th June 1942
Anne in 1942
At three o' clock of Saturday 5th of July 1942 the doorbell rang. It was the postman with a call up notice for Margot.
Margot first told Anne that the call up was for her Father, but later, when the girls were on their own, she told Anne the truth. At this second shock Anne began to cry. Margot is sixteen, she confided to Kitty, apparently they want to send girls of that age away on their own.
The Franks knew that no-one would have an easy life in Germany and went into hiding the very next day.
The Franks went into hiding and were soon joined by Hermann Van Pels, Auguste Van Pels and their son Peter. Later they were joined by another Jewish man named Fritz Pfeffer. Anne had to share her room with him.
Anne developed a close relationship with Peter, became less close to her father and quarelled with everyone else. She tried to forgive the others when they did or said something bad to her but they (mostly her mother) would do something like make a sarcastic remark and Anne would feel annoyed with her once more. In 1944 she discovered that she did not need other people to depend on.
All I got was adomnitions for being noisy. I was noisy only to keep myself from being miserable all of the time. I was over-confident to keep from having to listen to the little voice inside me. I've been putting on the act for the last year and a half, day in, day out. I've never complained or dropped my mask, nothing of the kind and now... now the battle is over. I have won! I'm independent, in both body and mind. I don't need a mother any more, and I've emerged from the struggle as a stronger person.
She was youngest, and as she also shared a room with Pfeffer, she was thought the worst behaved of the three children. She was greatly annoyed by this. I have no intention of of taking their insults lying down. I'll show them that Anne Frank wasn't born yesterday. They'll sit up and take notice and keep their big mouths shut when I make them see they ought to attend to their own manners instead of mine. 28 September 1942
On the fourth of August 1944, sometime between ten and ten-thirty, police came and arrested the members of the Secret Annexe along two of their helpers. They were sent to work camps, then concentration camps where they all perished, except Anne's father, Otto Frank.
R.I.P.
Anne Frank Huis
