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On a cool,
snowy day in February 1926 Otto and Edith Frank had their first daughter,
Margot.� Around three years later on a
stifling hot day in June 1929 they had Anne their second on last daughter.� The Franks lived a pretty good life up
until 1933. |
Margot
and Anne when
they were little. |
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In 1933 the
anti-Jewish National Socialist Party led by Hitler comes to power.� Margot, Anne, Edith, and Otto go to the
Netherlands to escape Hitler in 1933.�
Otto feels safe enough to start a business in Amsterdam.� He called it Duteh Opekta Company.� Anne and her family later join him. Anne
soon forgets all about Germany because she is having a very good time and has
a lot of friends. Hitler invades the Netherlands and all Jews have a curfew
and different rules.� They have to
wear a star if they are six or older that separates them from other
people.� They are treated like dogs. |
Edith Frank (Anne and Margot�s mother)
Otto Frank (Anne and Margot�s father) |
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To escape
Hitler again Margot and Edith move to Holland on December 5, 1933. In
February 1934 Anne joins them. On Anne�s thirteenth birthday in Holland she
receives a diary and for the next two years keeps track of her life in it. |
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On July 15,
1942 Margot receives a call-up notice to go work at so called �work
companies� the Franks decide it is time to make arrangements to go into
hiding.� They ask a friend of theirs,
Miep Gies, if she will help them and Otto�s co-partner to hide.� She replies with a yes. |
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Anne and her
family go into hiding on July 6, 1942.�
They call it the secret annex.�
It�s a room right above Otto�s office.� The Franks� are also joined by the van Daan family about a week
later.� The spent 25 months in
hiding.� |
Anne Frank |
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There is
nothing else to do so Anne writes in her diary.� Miep Gies saved Anne�s diary after she was found and it�s now
published in 60 different languages.�
Here are some entries from it: |
Anne�s diary |
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������������ February 3, 1944 ������������������ � I�ve reached the point
where I don�t care whether I live or die.� |
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������������� April 5, 1944 ���������������������� � When I write I can
shake off all my cares.� |
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���������������� April 11, 1944 ����������������������� � � The time will
come when we�ll be people again and not just Jews!� |
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About three
weeks before she was discovered she wrote: |
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����������������� July 15, 1944 ������������������������� �It is utterly impossible
for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering, and death.� I see the world being slowly transformed
into a wilderness.� I hear the
approaching thunder that one day will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of
millions.� And somehow feel that
everything will change for the better, that peace and tranquility will return
once more. |
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She tried to
be positive as much as possible but it sometimes didn�t work.� Anne�s last entry was on August 1,
1944.� On August 4, 1944 the Frank�s,
Otto�s co-partner, and the van Daan�s were betrayed by someone on the street. |
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������� Anne Frank |
They were all
taken to Auschwitz.� The adults stayed
there and Anne and Margot were taken to Bergen-Belsen.� Edith died at Auschwitz in January 1945.� on January 27, 1945 Auschwitz was
liberated.� Otto is freed and goes to
see if his daughters are still alive.�
By the time he arrives there Anne and Margot had died.� They both died within hours of each
other.� |
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Ashley
Ingwerson 7th
Social Studies Rossville Jr.
High Holocaust
Project Spring 2003 |