by Ayelen Flores Ruiz, age 14
Anne Frank is known for her famous diaries from the Holocaust which are filled with many emotional memories. Anne went into hiding, was captured, and died during WWII. She would not be known today if it were not for her father Otto Frank, who published Anne’s diary.
Before the tragic events of the holocaust, Anne lived a normal teenage life. She was born into an upper-class Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany. When the Nazis started to implement their policies, Otto decided to leave Germany and move to Amsterdam. He started his business called the “Dutch Opekta Company.” During this time, as the Nazis became more aggressive, Jews were taken to concentration camps and treated inhumanely. The treatment from Nazis became so harsh that the Franks, alongside four other friends, went into hiding. They hid above Otto’s business, called the annexe, with the help of other friends. Two weeks before going into hiding, Anne turned 13, and was gifted her diary, “Kitty.”
In Anne’s diary, she wrote about her experience in the annexe and her daily life. She talked about how careful they had to be when making noise, because any small noise would give their hiding place away. The diary contains short stories, fairy tales, essays, and the beginning of a novel. Anne loved writing; she dreamed of becoming a famous journalist. When she heard that any documents would be kept as a record, she started revising her diary. [Read More]