Who was Anne Frank?

On this day in 1942, Anne Frank went into hiding. She was hiding from the Nazis. But who was Anne Frank and what is her story?

When World War 2 started in 1939, Jewish people in Europe were in great danger. The Jews had already been in danger in Germany, but as the German army defeated or ran other countries, like Norway, Belgium, France, Poland and Austria, that danger spread.

The German leader was a man called Adolf Hitler. He was in charge of the Nazi party, who ran Germany. Hitler blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s problems and for losing World War One (1914-18). He was very convincing and many German people believed him. Lots also blamed the Jews for their problems.

The Nazi’s decided to get rid of the Jews. Jews in other countries and not just Germany were included in their plans. It was very dangerous to be a Jew.

It had been so dangerous to be a Jew in Germany that many Jews had simply left. Anne Frank was a Jew. She had been born in Germany, but moved with her family in 1933 to Amsterdam, a city in the Netherlands. Her father, Otto, set up a business and they lived peacefully. 

But in May 1940, the Germans came to the Netherlands. The Nazi’s invaded and four days later, the Netherlands were defeated. The Germans were in charge. Anne Franks family were in danger again.

It became more and more risky in the countries the Nazis controlled. So, eventually Anne’s family went into hiding. They created a place called the “Secret Annex” at the back of Otto Frank’s office and warehouse. It had three levels and a special entrance that was hidden behind a large bookcase. In total eight people lived there; Anne Frank and her family, another family called the van Pels and a man called Fritz Pfeffer. They all had to be very quiet.

They went into hiding in July 1942. Anne is famous because she kept a diary. In it she explained what it was like to in hiding. She was honest about being afraid and how it affected everyone living in secret. There were times when they were nearly discovered. Other times Nazi soldiers marched down the road outside. The German secret police, called the Gestapo, were feared by everyone, especially Jews.

The Secret Annexe was discovered in August 1944. They had been in hiding for 761 days, which is over 2 years. They had almost made it to the end of the war. Almost.

Anne Frank and her family were sent to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Concentration camps were massive prison like camps, where millions of people died. Anne died in April 1945 of disease, just weeks before British troops arrived. Anne Frank and her family has almost made it to the end of the war in hiding. Then they almost made it to the end of the war in the concentration camp.

Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was the only person from the Secret Annexe to survive. One of the reasons was that he was ill. The Germans made everyone that could walk move out of the camp. They left behind the ill, including Anne’s father. He survived.

No one knows how the Germans discovered the Secret Annexe. Many people think they were betrayed. Some people think another family betrayed them in order to save themselves. But no one really knows. It is very sad they were discovered.

After the war, Otto was given some of the things from the Secret Annexe. Included was Anne’s diary. Otto was so moved by the diary that he spent the rest of his life making sure it was printed, so many other people could also read the honest, raw and emotional words of a teenage girl living in awful times. It is still being printed as a book today.

During WW2, the Nazis killed about 6 million Jews. They also killed another 5 million people they did not like. Thankfully, they lost the war and were defeated, otherwise they would have carried on.