LITERATURE

Background information

- Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Germany . Her parents, Otto and Edith Frank, married in 1925. In 1933 the Nazis came into power in Germany . The Franks decided to move to Amsterdam in the Netherlands , which had been neutral during World War I. The Netherlands had the reputation of being a safe haven for religious minorities. Like so many other refugees throughout Europe during World War II, the Franks’ belief that they had a safe haven was shattered when Nazi armies violated Dutch neutrality. At first Anne and her sister Margot were still able to socialize with their friends and attend school. However, soon the Nazi administration in the Netherlands , along with Dutch civil service, began issuing and carrying out anti-Jewish decrees. This included stripping Jews of their rights as citizens and human beings and isolating them from their fellow Dutch citizens.

By 1942, razzias of Jews and their deportation to labour, transit and concentration camps were becoming routine. The geography of the Netherlands and closing of the borders made it very difficult and extremely dangerous to escape. Otto and Edith Frank prepared to go into hiding. They wanted to stay together as a family and they had a place in mind : an annex of rooms above Otto’s office at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam . Employees and business associates (Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman) and friends (Miep and Jan Gies and Bep Voskuijl and his father) agreed to help them. On July, 5, 1942 , Margot received a call-up notice for a Nazi work camp. They had to hide immediately, although the hiding place was not ready yet.  Otto Frank had made arrangements with his business partner, Hermann Van Pels, his wife, Auguste, and their son, Peter, to share the annex with his family. They arrived a week later on July 13. The seven residents of the annex were joined by the eighth and final resident, Fritz Pfeffer in November. They had to be extremely quiet so they would not be discovered.     

On June, 12, 1942 , Anne Frank’s parents gave her a small red and white plaid diary for her thirteenth birthday which she named “Kitty”. Anne wrote about their life in the annex and she also recorded her own inner growth from a girl to a young woman. She used her diary to record her feelings about growing up, her aspirations and insights about human relationships and about herself. Anne re-wrote whole sections of her diary on loose sheets of papers because a Cabinet Minister in exile said  that after the war a collection would be made of diaries and letters dealing with the war. She gave pseudonyms to the residents : Mr. Pfeffer became Albert Dussel, Mr. and Mrs. Van Pels became Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan and Peter van Pels became Peter Van Daan. At approximately 10 a .m. on August 4, 1944 , Anne and the others’ greatest fear came true. Someone had betrayed them, but to this day no one knows who. Miep and Bep returned when the Nazis had taken them away, to find the sheets of Anne’s diary on the floor. The residents of the annex were taken to prison in Amsterdam , subsequently deported to the Dutch transit camp, Westerbork, and then to Auschwitz . Upon arrival, the men were separated from the women. Hermann Van Pels was the first to die, gassed at Auschwitz . Fritz Pfeffer was moved from Auschwitz to Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany , where he died on December 20, 1944 . Anne, Margot and Mrs. Van Pels were transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany . Edith Frank remained at Auschwitz-Birkenau where she died of starvation and exhaustion in January 1945. Anne and Margot contracted typhus. Margot, seventeen, died first. A short time later, Anne, then fifteen, died. It was March 1945. The exact date of their deaths and where they were buried are unknown.        

Mrs. Van Pels’ last months consisted of gruesome transports from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen , Buchenwald and finally in Theresienstadt in former Czechoslovakia . She died in either Germany or Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1945. Her son Peter survived the “death march” from Auschwitz to Mauthausen but died on May 5, 1945 .

The Nazis abandoned Auschwitz with the coming of the Russian Army. They left all prisoners, including Otto Frank. He was the sole survivor of the eight people who had hidden in the secret annex.  

All of the helpers managed to survive the war.

- The  image of Anne Frank is one of a vibrant, intelligent young girl struggling to retain her ideals while living in hiding in Nazi occupied Holland . However, to have an accurate understanding of Anne Frank and her significance one must look beyond the diary and examine her last months alive. Anne Frank was one of the approximately 1.5 million Jewish children killed by the Nazis and their accomplices through state sanctioned genocide.

-The diary was first published in June 1947.The first edition omitted almost thirty percent of Anne’s original diary. Otto Frank deliberately excluded sections where Anne expresses negative feelings about her mother and others in the annex, believing that Anne would not want such views made public. The publisher was also quite conservative and was uncomfortable printing Anne’s entries concerning her sexuality. 

- The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation received the original document after Otto’s death in 1980. Scholars associated with the Institute were particularly interested in refuting the accusations, by neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers, that the diary was a hoax. To prove it was written during the 1940’s, test were performed on the ink, paper, and glue used in the diary. Tests were also performed on Anne’s handwriting, comparing samples from the diary with other writings, which included letters with dated stamps cancellations. In 1986 the complete diary (including the parts Otto had left out) was published. This edition also includes transcripts of the tests verifying the authenticity of the diary as well as some of Anne’s short stories and sketches written in the annex. The last edition was published in 1995 and makes readers aware of the complexity and sensitivity of Anne Frank, an adolescent struggling to find her own identity.     

Pre-reading

-                    Does the name Anne Frank ring a bell to you? (She was a Jewish girl. She had to hide with her family for the Germans. The Nazis persecuted Jews. She lived in the Netherlands during the Second World War. She was captured and died in a concentration camp. She kept a diary and her father published it after the war. He was the only relative who survived the war. She was born 75 years ago.)

Pre-reading / Vocabulary

-                    Make sure you understand the following 10 words before you read the extracts. Form groups of 4 students. Your teacher will give you three pieces of paper. On the first piece you can find the letter “A”. On the second the letter “B” and on the third the letter “C”. Look at the exercise. You can find 10 words and 3 possible explanations or synonyms for each word. Your teacher will read a sentence for every word. In that sentence the meaning of the word you have to explain will be clear. Decide in your group which answer (A, B or C) is the correct one and one group member should show the correct letter. Your teacher will give you the correct answer and keep score. 

The sentences are:

1. It was their destiny never to see each other again. It couldn’t be changed. (b)

2. The war made a profound impression on me. I will never be able to forget the cruelties. (a)

3. The Jews were persecuted by the Nazis in the Second World War. ( c)     

4. Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and opponents of the Nazi regime were deported to

    concentration or work camps. (b)

5. Anne had to hide in some rooms so the Germans couldn’t find her. (c)

6. Belgium was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War. (a)

7. Anne Frank didn’t survive the war. (b)

8. They were captured by the enemy at the end of the war. (a) 

9. The diary of Anne Frank was published in 1947. ( c)

10. It is my personal conviction that Hitler was the most cruel man in history. (b)

To be copied and cut: 

READ THE EXTRACTS AND HIGHLIGHT THE TEN WORDS FROM THE PREVIOUS EXERCISE. WRITE ONE SENTENCE WITH EACH WORD. THE MEANING OF THE WORDS SHOULD BE CLEAR. NEXT GIVE A SUMMARY OF THE MAIN EVENTS.

“I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” (Anne Frank: the diary of a Young Girl, June 12, 1942)

“I lived in Frankfurt until I was four. Because we’re Jewish, my father immigrated to Holland in 1933… 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 plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot.” ( June 20, 1942 )   

“Margot and I started packing our most important belongings into a school bag. The first thing I stuck in was this diary…. Preoccupied by the thought of going into hiding, I stuck the craziest things into the bag, but I’m not sorry. Memories mean more to me than dresses.” ( June 26, 1942 )

“So there we were, father, mother and I walking in the pouring rain, each of us with a schoolbag and a shopping bag filled to the brim with the most varied assortment of items. The people on their way at that early hour gave us sympathetic looks; you could tell by their face that they were sorry they couldn’t offer us some kind of transportation; the conspicuous yellow star spoke for itself.” ( July 9, 1942 )   

“The Annex is an ideal place to hide in. It may be damp and lopsided, but there’s probably not a more comfortable hiding place in all of Amsterdam . No, in all of Holland .” ( July 11, 1942 )  

"Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they’re sending all the Jews… It must be terrible in Westerbork… If it’s that bad in Holland , what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilised places where the Germans are sending them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they’re being gassed. Perhaps that’s the quickest way to die.” ( October 9, 1942 )    

“Night after night, green and gray military vehicles cruise the street. They knock on every door, asking whether any Jews live there. If so, the whole family is immediately taken away. If not, they proceed to the next house. It’s impossible to escape their clutches unless you go into hiding. They often go around with lists, knocking only on those doors where they know there’s a big haul to be made. They frequently offer a bounty, so much per head. It’s like the slave hunts of the olden days.” ( November 19, 1942 )  

“When I think about our lives here, I usually come to the conclusion that we live in a paradise compared to the Jews who aren’t hiding.” ( May 2, 1943 )

“We long for Saturdays because that means books. We’re like a bunch of little kids with a present. Ordinary people don’t know how much books can mean to someone who’s cooped up. Our only diversions are reading, studying and listening to the radio.” ( July 11, 1943 )

“ When I think back to my life in 1942, it all seems so unreal. The Anne Frank who enjoyed that heavenly existence was completely different from the one who has grown wise within these walls. Looking back, I realize that this period of my life has irrevocably come to a close. My happy-go-lucky, carefree schooldays are gone forever. I don’t even miss them. I’ve outgrown them. I can no longer just kid around, since my serious side is always there.”  ( March 7, 1944 )

“In the meantime, things are getting more and more wonderful here. I think, Kitty, that true love may be developing in the Annex.” (talking about Peter - March 22,1944 )

“Bolkestein, a Member of Parliament, was speaking on the  Dutch News from London, and he said that they ought to make a collection of diaries and letters after the war. Of course, all made a rush at my diary immediately. Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a romance of the “Secret Annex”. The title alone would be enough to make people think it was a detective story.” ( March 29, 1944 )

“I finally realized that I must do my homework to keep from being ignorant, to get on in life, to become a journalist, because that’s what I want! I know I can write…, but it remains to be seen whether I really have the talent… And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like mother, Mrs. Van Daan and all the women who go about their work and then be forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! (…) I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?” ( April 5, 1944 ) 

“ Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that’s the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer. We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. And we’ll have to keep on being Jews, but then, we’ll want to be. (…)

But now, now that I’ve been spared, my first wish after the war is to become a Dutch citizen. I love the Dutch, I love this country, I love the language, and I want to work here. And even if I have to write to the Queen herself, I won’t give up until I’ve reached  my goal. (…)  

I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inner strength and a great deal of courage! If God lets me live, I’ll achieve more than mother ever did, I’ll make my voice heard, I’ll go out into the world and work for humanity!” ( April 11, 1944 )

“It is utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I’ll be able to realize them.” ( July 15,1944 )

Reading comprehension

-                    Read the extracts of Anne’s diary in the Student’s Worksheets and do the exercise.

(1. her diary / Kitty 2. Frankfurt 3. Holland 4. Jewish  5. Memories 6. yellow star 7. the Annex 8. Amsterdam 9. Westerbork 10. slave hunts of the olden days 11. books 12. wonderful 13. a journalist / a writer 14. They go about their work and are then forgotten 15. (a) strength (b) courage)

 READ THE EXTRACTS AND COMPLETE THE GRID.