Anne Frank

We finished reading Who Was Anne Frank? in record time.  This was such a well-written biography, we did not want to stop reading it.

Anne Frank was born in Germany in 1929.  She was a warm and caring young lady who unfortunately was living in a time of war.  A war against Jewish people started by Adolph Hitler.  Hitler hated all Jews and forced them to leave Germany or killed them.  Hitler came to power in 1933.  He was the head of the National Socialist (Nazi) party.  Hitler made the Germans feel better about themselves and told them they were smarter and better than any other people on earth.  Hitler was referring to "Pure" Germans, Not Jews.

The Frank family had to flee from Germany and go into hiding.  They went to live in the Netherlands.

On her 13th birthday, Anne was given a diary.  She wrote in her diary every day.  She named her diary Kitty.  It was HER most treasured item and an extremely important eyewitness account of history for us.  In her dairy she wrote, "In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."

The Frank family was captured and sent to a concentration camp.  Anne and her sister Margot were separated from their father and mother.  Most people were put to death right away and those who were not, struggled to stay alive.  Anne and Margot struggled  until they both came down with typhus.  They died in March of 1945.  Just one month later in April of 1945, British soldiers arrived and freed the Jews that were still alive in the camp.  Unbelievably sad!  Anne's father, Otto Frank, was still alive and did not find out until later his wife and children were dead.

Please watch Discovered and Arrested to learn more.