Anne Frank and her family were Jews hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during WWII.
Anne was born June-12-1929.
She had one older Sister named: Margot.
Her parents were: Otto and Edith Frank.
They were originally from Frankfurt, Germany.
In the Fall of 1933, the Nazis were taking over the country of Germany and like most other Jewish families, they decided to leave. They thought they would be safe in the Netherlands, so they moved to Amsterdam. At that time, Anne was only 4 years old.
Anne and her family were doing fine for the first 9 years living in Amsterdam. Anne and Margot were going to school and they very quickly learned the Dutch language.
It wasn't long until the Nazis invaded Amsterdam to.
Jews had a lot of restrictions now, they couldn't work, go to regular, nonjewish schools, use public transportation or even go to the movies.
They were eventually forced to wear a Yellow star on their shirt to show everyone that they're Jewish.
Nazis would often arrest Jews for violating these restrictions. That was often an excuse to send somebody to a concentration camp.
Anne and her Dad were walking past a store one day and Anne looked in the window and saw a diary. She mentioned to her Dad that she liked it. They continued walking home.
Her 13th birthday was a few weeks later. Her parents gave her the diary for her birthday.
Otto was already getting a little nervous about living in Amsterdam, because there were a lot of Nazis running around the city. He knew they couldn't leave the Netherlands and move to a different country, because the Nazis would definitely catch them. He had already been working on a place for the family to hide.
There was an apartment that was hidden in back of the warehouse of her dads company. Otto Frank owned his own business which made Pectin (A gelling agent for jam.)
They were going to move in to their new hiding place in a week or two. Until, one day, Margot received a letter that said she had to report to report to a concentration camp. Her dad said, "No way! We're going into hiding!"
They quickly grabbed whatever they could carry with them and left. They moved into the hiding place earlier than they had planned.
They moved to the new place in July 1942 and stayed there until Aug 1944, which is when they got caught.
The people working in the building never told the Nazis where she and her family were hiding.
The entrance to the apt was a hole in the wall with no door. It was hidden by a large bookcase. They hid in the 3 story building for a Two years and one month.
They never expected to have to stay there that long. They thought the allies would of won the war much sooner than they did.
They had to be very quiet and rely on other people to bring them food. They never left the house because they were afraid of getting caught by the Nazis.
Anne wrote a lot in her diary while they were in hiding.
There is a rumor that Her Sister, Margot kept a diary to. But, nobody has ever found it.
Eventually, the Nazis found the hidden entrance to the place where her family was hiding. They never found out who turned them in, but it had to of been one of their close "friends", because, very few people knew where they were. If anybody in the warehouse turned them in, they'd of probably been arrested for helping them. Because, not only were they Jews, but, they were considered criminals now, because Margot didn't turn herself in and report to a concentration camp in her own free will.
In Aug 1944, the Nazis broke in and found the Frank family and arrested them. First they were taken to a concentration camp in Auschwitz, Germany. Then in the Fall, Anne and Margot were transferred to a different location called: Bergen-Beisen Concentration Camp in Northern Germany.
In the Winter both of the Sisters got severe cases of Typhus (Not to be confused with Typhoid. They are NOT the same thing). Sometime in either Feb or Mar 1944 Margot died. Anne died a few days later. Margot was 18 and in a few weeks would of turned 19. Anne was 15 when they died. Typhus was the cause of both of their deaths.
Somebody found Anne's diary and kept it in a safe place hoping to return it to her when and if she came back after the war. But, since she never came back, the person who found the diary gave it to her dad, because he was the only one in the family who survived the camps.
Otto read his daughters diary and decided to get it published. First, he censored a few things that he didn't want everybody to see. Then he sent it to a publisher. In the updated version, after Otto's death, someone found some of the pages that Otto tore out of the book and they added them back into the diary. The book has been translated to over 60 different languages. Some schools have banned the book, because they think some things are too graphic (sexually and other things), but that's only on a few pages. It is one of the most famous and popular books in the world. I've never read the book nor even seen it, however, people who've read it say Anne was a very good writer. She wanted to be a professional Writer some day. The original diary is on display inside the "Anne Frank House" in Amsterdam. It is now a museum. They get over 1 Million visitors a year.
Edith died from illnesses caused by malnutrition and starvation. Otto eventually died of cancer.
I've been to Amsterdam, I went there when I was on R&R from Iraq. I hung out with some people I met on the trip. We walked by the Anne Frank House. However, the line was to long to get in, so we didn't stop. Instead, we went to the Heineken brewery and got a tour of that.
Anne had a lot of friends in school. However when she was hiding in the house, she had absolutely no friends at all, that's why she named the diary "Kitty" so she would feel like she had a friend.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anne-Frank
