Annelies Marie Frank, also known as Anne Frank, was born in Germany. She later became famous for her writings that were compiled into the "Diary of Anne Frank." It wasn't until after she died at the age of 15 that her documents--written during the Nazi invasion during World War II--were brought to light by her father. With the help of her diary, people have gotten a real life glimpse into what it meant to be Jewish during this horrible war.
It was in 1933 that the saga of Anne Frank began. She and her family moved to Amsterdam after the Nazis gained power in Germany. They were essentially trapped by the takeover of the Netherlands in 1940. In July of 1942, Anne and her family went into hiding in her father Otto's office building where they spent the next two years. This was when most of the diary was written. The diary itself started on June 12, 1942. The diary ended August 1, 1944. The diary was given to Anne on her thirteenth birthday when she was still attending school. Anne had already decided that she wanted to be a writer. She was thrilled to get such a valuable gift from her father.
Anne Frank's diary became especially important to her while she and her family were in hiding. With the sudden absence of any friends, she initially started writing her diary to her imaginary friend named "Kitty." During those two years, Frank depicted the nightmare that was her life. She spoke of how it was to have eight people living in a tiny area. She had to deal with other people always worrying about being discovered. Yet, she also wrote about her hopes and dreams of being a young girl growing into a woman with each passing day. There were moments of doubt, rage, happiness, and love.
Basically the entire diary was just as you would expect. It featured the chronicling of her life...from the ups and downs of the war to her girlhood dreams. She kept up with daily writings for almost two years. She wrote until May 20, 1944. That's when she decided to rewrite her earlier diary posts based on a London radio broadcast that explained the importance of war diaries and letters. It spoke of how some can be prepared for possible publication. The two and a half months following were busy for Anne. She reproduced 324 pages in her own handwriting. These were later entitled "Het Achterhuis." That title is literally translated to mean "house behind." This refers to the hiding place or secret annex where the Frank family hid.
Her final entry--made on August 1, 1944--was right before the August 4th arrest of her family. Upon being betrayed and told they were going to be hidden in secret, they were all sent to concentration camps. Anne later died in a concentration camp. After the war, Otto was the only survivor. He was impressed with his daughter's writings and decided to have it published in 1947. It has been translated into over 60 different languages and was later made into a feature film. No one can ever forget the actual words of this confident and optimistic young woman that we only know through her promising words.