Anne Frank
Anne Frank was a girl who loved life to its fullest and had a vigorous spirit. Her dream was to be a journalist or a movie star, and there were a great number of other things she wanted to do when she got older. She probably would have succeeded in her dreams, but Anne was Jewish, and lived in Germany when Adolf Hitler came into power.
When Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 things weren't going well for Germany. A great deal of businesses closed that year, leaving thousands of people unemployed. As times rapidly got worse, people started supporting a group called the National Socialist German Workers party, the Nazis. They formed after World War I. The party's supporters blamed a weak government and the Jews. Otto Frank soon realized Germany wasn't a safe place to raise his daughters, so when Anne was 4 years old, her family moved to Amsterdam, Holland. Since Anne was young, she quickly adapted to the new surroundings. She was enrolled in a Montessori school and learned to speak Dutch.
After Germany attacked three countries, Great Britain and its ally, France declared war on Germany. Holland tried to remain a neutral country but were unprepared to defend themselves, when the Germans attacked their country. They were forced to surrender their country. Dutch officials and the royal family fled to England. All Jews were required to wear a six-pointed star on there clothes. Anne could only run errands between 3:00-5:00 in the afternoon. All transportation had been restricted from the Jews, so she had to walk. Anne and her friends could no longer go places and enjoy the same things they did before the war. Anne had to leave her school and say good-bye to her teacher and non-Jewish friends.
On her 13th birthday, Anne Frank received a red and white plaid dairy. She named it "Kitty". Several weeks later, her sister Margot, received a letter stating that she would be sent away to work in a German factory. Otto Frank knew he and his family couldn't get out of the country, so he arranged for them to go into hiding in the building that was once his office. It was a narrow building with steep steps leading to upper rooms. There was an internal passageway that led to a second building. There was a total of four additional rooms and an attic floor. This would be the Franks new home and they would be joined by another family of three Jews.
Anne's life in the annex became boring and tiresome so, her father devised a schedule with studies for all three young people. There were many rules Anne and her family had to follow while hiding. Only after 5:30 pm could they flush toilets and talk out loud. But even at night they had to keep as quit as possible. Food was in short supply, especially after they took on an eighth Jew, a dentist. Employees of Mr. Frank, who still worked downstairs, would bring up special treats during birthdays and holidays.
The days were long but each night they would gather around the radio and listen to reports of how the war was going. In September of 1943, German occupied Italy, had surrendered to allied forces. The hiders had hoped that it wouldn't be much longer before they could return to normal living. They had already been in hiding fourteen months. Anne wrote in her diary often and was able to vent her frustrations and impatience. Although they always lived with the fear of being caught, they had begun to allow themselves to relax a little and dream of freedom.
August 1, 1944 was the last entry in Anne's diary. On August 4, the Gestapo, German police, stormed into the annex and placed all eight Jews under arrest. The police looked through all there stuff for anything of value. Everything that was of no value, was left behind. This included Anne's writings and her dairy. As the families were led away, they were in shock. Had someone finally betrayed them and given up their hiding spot?
