Category: The Diary of Anne Frank

In the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, and the novel, The Boy at The Top of The Mountain, characters undergo many changes throughout their stories. Anne from the play The Diary of Anne Frank and Pierrot from The Boy at The Top of The Mountain are both dynamic and round characters. A dynamic character undergoes a change throughout literature a round character is well developed and typically a main character. In the play, Anne undergoes the change of being childish to being kind-hearted, and in The Boy at The Top of The Mountain Pierrot undergoes the change of being Tolerant to disrespectful.

In the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne is a dynamic character who is childish in the beginning of the play. Shortly after going into hiding in the Secret Annex, Anne dresses up in Peter’s clothes to annoy him; Peter is furious. Anne says, “‘Good evening, everyone. Forgive me if I don’t stay. I have a friend waiting for me in there. My friend tom. Tom Cat. Some people say that we look alike. But tom has the most beautiful whiskers, and I only have little fuzz. I am hoping . . . in time . . .”’ (Goodrich, Hackett 383). Anne’s words and actions demonstrate she is childish because she neither respects Peter’s personal space or feelings. In the end of the play, Anne shows she is a dynamic character by displaying the character trait kind-hearted. Two years after being in hiding, Anne and Peter are in his room having a discussion. Anne says that other traces have suffered just like the Jews, but Peter does not care. Anne states, “‘I know it’s terrible, trying to have any faith . . . when people are doing such horrible . . . But you know what I sometimes think? I think the world may be going through a phase, the way I was with Mother. It’ll pass, maybe not for hundreds of years, but someday . . . I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart’” (Goodrich, Hackett 431). Anne’s words show kind heartedness becuase, even after the nazi’s atrocoties twords the Jew’s she still sees good in humanity. While Anne is a dynamic character in the play, The Diary of Anne Frank, Pierrot is also a dynamic character in the novel, The Boy at The Top of The Mountain.

In the novel, The Boy at The Top of The Mountain, Pierrot is also a dynamic character who is tolerant in the beginning. After Pierrots parents pass away he moved into his friend Anshel’s house, Anshel and his mother are Jewish while Pierrot is German, even though they have very large different they are still friends. Pierrot says in a letter he sent to Anshel, ‘“We can’t allow our correspondence to fall into enemy hands! So from now on, Anshel, we won’t ever write our names at the end of our letters. Instead, we’ll use the names we gave each other when we lived together in Paris. You must use the sign of the fox, and I will use the sign of the dog”’ (Boyne 120). This letter to Anshel shows that Pierrot doesn’t want to lose contact with him because they are such good friends and care about each other very greatly even though their religious beliefs are different. In the end of the novel, The Boy at The Top of The Mountain shows they are a dynamic character by displaying the character trait disrespectful. A few years after Pierrot moved into Hitlers home with his aunt Beatrix he was hungry so asked the cook Emma if there was any food for him to eat. Pierrot then demanded her to make him a sandwich and when he got it he threw it in the garbage and yelled at Emma. Pierrot says to Emma ‘“Now you make a sandwich when I require it!’”. (Boyne, 204). Pierrots actions show that he has no respect for people and doesn’t care about respecting anyone either. Both characters Anne from the play The Diary of Anne Frank, and Pierrot from the novel, The Boy at The Top of The Mountain, are dynamic because they change over the course of the story.

In The Boy at The Top of The Mountain Pierrot undergoes the change of being forgiving to impolite and in the play, Anne undergoes the change of being foolish to being considerate. Anne and Pierrot both changed throughout the story but Anne became good and Pierrot became bad. They both were around the same age and valued some of the same things like they both loved to read and they both loved animals, but Anne loved to right while Pierrot didn’t and Anne didn’t have any pets to play with. Anne knew that she was going to go into hiding and didn’t know when she might be found or if she might ever be found. Pierrot had no clue what was going to happen to him his parents died and he had to move into Hitlers home and eventually became a follower of Hitler and became extremely rude to others.

ABSTRACT

Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is the most widely read text about the Holocaust and it represents tragic consequences of the Nazi policy to eliminate the Jews of Europe during World War II. This project discusses Anne Frank’s diary as the reflection of an alarming episode from history – the Holocaust or mass genocide of Jews during World War 2. It is an episode which the entire humanity would like to forget and remember as well. We should remember it as it is the most heinous crimes ever happened in the human history. It must be remembered so that the same mistake never happens again. It also gives us an idea about the far-reaching effect of hatred and fanaticism. This project also focuses on the effect of war on Anne Frank’s family and other Jewish families.

INTRODUCTION

Discovered in the secret annexe in which she spent the last two years of her life, Anne Frank’s noteworthy diary is one of the most soul stirring personal documents to come out of World War II. It has become a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. A beloved world classic since its initial publication in 1947, this vivid, insightful journal is an appropriate memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvellously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 tiresome months of claustrophobic, argumentative intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne’s liveliness. The diary’s universal appeal stems from its fascinating blend of the grimy particulars of life during wartime (limited amount of food; untidy, outgrown clothes that can’t be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and frank discussion of emotions familiar to every teenager (everyone scolds me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss.

“The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank appears to be an amusing and enlightening diary of a confused teenager on the surface. But it is not just that. It is reflection of an alarming episode from history – an episode which the entire humanity would like to forget and remember as well. It introduces us to one of the most horrifying episodes in history – World War II and the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of millions of European Jews by the German Nazi regime during World War II. The Nazi Holocaust was the outcome of the antisemitism that had been growing in Europe and spreading to the New World for centuries. Originally, it was religious intolerance. But in the 19th century, it began to morph into a racial intolerance with the new idea that Jews were a different and flawed race of humans. The idea that the Aryan race is the only pure-blooded race and Jews were an alien threat to German racial purity and community also became popular among the Germans. They also believed that Aryans was the had the power to lead, even enslave the other races seen as sub-humans. The Nazi leader Hitler was way too influenced by these notions and he claimed that Germany’s problems and the decline in its power were the fault of Jews and radicals. He adopted brutal methods to erase Jews. Many mass killing centres and gas chambers were constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland under his supervision. Approximately six million Jews and some 5 million others, targeted for racial, political, ideological and behavioural reasons, died in the Holocaust. More than one million of those who perished were children. Although his actions cannot be justified, it can be considered as logical consequence of a strange and unverified notion masked as a science.

The Holocaust was not about 4 million or 5 million people dead. It was the fact that such large millions were brutally exterminated, just because they did not satisfy weird ideas of cultural supremacy. The Holocaust was not about gas chambers or concentration camps. It was about the families which were torn apart for no fault of their own. Fathers from daughters, mothers from sons, brothers from sisters, entire families just shattered. Babies wrenched from their mother’s arms, old men considered unfit were thrown from balconies, young women and men worked to death in sub human conditions. An entire generation destroyed to satisfy the whims of a megalomaniac. The Holocaust was not about Jews or Gypsies or Poles or Communists. It was about that human beings who were reduced to a state, where they had to live like animals, fighting for survival. The Holocaust is the single biggest disgrace in human history. And no number of denials or fabricated evidence can erase this biggest stain on our conscience.

This biggest stain in the history should be remembered for numerous reasons. The most serious and dangerous point is that those who forget their past, are very likely sometime in the future to repeat it all over again. Remembrance, therefore, is vitally important, to warn the hearts and minds of the younger more recent generations of the danger. It is important to remember that “The Holocaust” involved fewer than 50% of the victims of the Nazis “perverted” ideas concerning what it meant to be “fully human”. It is important to remember that “The Holocaust” (and the other murders) took place in the context of a modern, industrialized, “first world”, country where the populace was assumed to be well educated and which was a “Constitutional Republic” with a “democratic” method of choosing its government. It is important to remember that “The Holocaust” (and the other murders) were ignored by the citizenry of that country – because they didn’t want to know about them. It is important to remember that “The Holocaust” (and the other murders) were accomplished with the willing assistance of people from countries other than Germany and that those other countries were modern, industrialized, “first world”, countries where the populace were assumed to be well educated and which were a “Constitutional Republics” (or “Constitutional Monarchies”) with “democratic” methods of choosing their governments. It is important to remember “The Holocaust” (and the other murders) because there are groups in today’s society who would like nothing better than to repeat the “cleansing of society” and that those groups occur in all countries – even modern, industrialized, “first world”, countries where the populace is assumed to be well educated and which are “Constitutional Republics” (or “Constitutional Monarchies”) with “democratic” methods of choosing their governments. It is important to remember “The Holocaust” because:

“First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me”.

The descriptions of the atrocities committed unto Jews by the Nazis is not vividly described since Anne Frank wrote the diary while in hiding. But it does not fail to hit the readers in full force. In her diary, she clearly states how Jews were restricted by a series of Anti-Jewish decrees. There were required to wear a yellow star, forbidden to use cars and were restricted from entering public places. When she says ‘I don’t dare do anything anymore, cause I’m afraid it’s not allowed.’, it gives us glimpses of how hard life was like during those times. Food was being rationed. Jews were lined up and packed away to concentration camps. Innocent people were shot randomly on the streets. It was a time of constant fear and horror. Anne’s family along with VanDaans goes into hiding expecting some relief from this all-pervading fear of death. However, their life in secret annexe was also not better. The situation of being in hiding in the midst of a busy city produces many hours of extreme fear and tension among the residents. They were engulfed with fear all the time. When a workman comes to fill the fire extinguishers in the house, his noises terrify the unsuspecting, frightened little group, and they fear that their hiding place has been discovered. Fear is an ever-present reality, however, as Anne writes, ‘It is the silence that frightens me so in the evenings and at night . . . I can’t tell you how oppressive it is never to be able to go outdoors. Also, I’m very afraid that we shall be discovered and be shot’. Then gradually they become accustomed to the noise of helicopters and bombs. Anne remarks, ‘This sent us off into uncontrollable laughter. The gunfire troubled us no longer, our fear was banished!’. Her attitude shows how living through the war has destroyed her innocence. Moreover, Anne’s description of children searching for their parents’ corpses shows that while the war has taken her innocence and former life from her, she understands that she could lose so much more. The horrors of fascism when seen through the eyes of a young girl, hit you brutally in the face. In spite of going through all these traumatic experiences, she does not go into self-pity. She is very grateful to for what he has given her. Anne writes, ‘We don’t have a single quiet night. I’ve got dark rings under my eyes from lack of sleep.’ In addition, the shortage of food is beginning to be even more acute although in her following entry, Anne reminds herself: ‘. . . it is a paradise compared with how other Jews who are not in hiding must be living.’ She faces death with a tremendous sense of equanimity and optimism. Her life raises numerous questions in our minds. What crime did this girl commit, that her life has become this miserable? What crime was committed by so many families like hers, that they had to live with the trauma for their entire life? What made humans so inhumane that they would willingly destroy entire families? Why was such a megalomaniac man, allowed to get away with his crimes?

Anne’s suffering does not end here. She is criticised by every inmate for everything she does. Her relationship with her mother strains as latter fails to understand her adolescent daughter. Both of them quarrel all the time and Anne complains to her diary that she cannot understand her mother and that her mother cannot understand her. Anne is also irritated by the interference of the other members of the secret annexe. To prove this point, she quotes a quarrel with Mrs. Van Daan during dinner one night, ending with Mrs. Van Daan’s saying to Anne’s father, ‘I wouldn’t put up with it if Anne were my daughter.’ According to Anne, these always seem to be Mrs. Van Daan’s first and last words: ‘if Anne were my daughter.’ The irritated Anne reveals to her diary, ‘Thank heavens I’m not!’ Anne suffers a great deal from the constant criticism of the other members of the group in hiding. This confuses her and she starts doubting herself. In particular, Anne feels that her mother is not defending her sufficiently and does not care for her. She also hates the fact that she has always to keep so quiet and restrain her adolescent impulse to back talk or “sass people back.’ The gap between her and her mother was widening day after day. Clearly, she feels a greater affinity towards her father than with her mother and it appears that most of their quarrels could have been avoided if her mother tried to understand her intentions and emotions. Anne feels again and again that her mother is unfair to her as she shows partiality to Anne’s elder sister, Margot. She also feels that her mother is inadequate as a mother and yet she does try very hard not to pass too severe a judgment on her for this. Her remarks here, however, reveal a very perceptive and sensitive girl of thirteen: ‘Mummy and her failings are something I find harder to bear than anything else. I don’t know how to keep it all to myself. . . . I have in my mind’s eye an image of what a perfect mother and wife should be; and in her whom I must call ‘Mother’ I find no trace of that image. . . . Sometimes I believe that God wants to try me, both now and later on; I must become good through my own efforts, without examples and without good advice. . . . From whom but myself shall I get comfort? As I need comforting often, I frequently feel weak, and dissatisfied with myself; my short-comings are too great. I know this, and every day I try to improve myself, again and again’. These lines are really touching and her mother might have felt shattered had she read these entries. However, once, she unintentionally hurt her mother’s feelings by refusing to say her prayers with her. Anne tries to reason with herself, feeling sorry for her mother, yet she refuses to apologize for saying what she considered to be the truth. Anne states quite clearly that her mother has alienated her with her ‘tactless remarks and crude jokes” which was not funny but depressing. Later, that same month, Anne lists her quarrels with her mother as just one of the various clashes going on amongst all the members of the group, adding that ‘everyone is angry with everyone else’. Apart from the problems which she experiences in her relations with her mother and her sister — problems which are fairly normal for any adolescent — she is also obliged to contend with the problems of being confined in a rather small area with a group of people who generally irritate and annoy her. Her relationship with Peter Van Daan also leads to complexities. She is doubtful about whether she loves him or she sees the reflection of her true love Peter Schiff in him. The fear of being discovered by Nazi forces and the problems she faces as an adolescent girl makes her much worser.

CONCLUSION

Historically “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank is an important document along with many other journals and diaries that were written by holocaust victims as it shows one of the soul stirring episodes of the world history. However, it is much more than a historical document. It teaches us a lot of life lessons and is an eye opener to all of us. This diary teaches us one of the most valuable lessons that history can give us and that is to value our freedom. The freedom that we enjoy today came at a very high price and we are indeed blessed that we have this freedom. This diary also shows us the courage that people possessed amidst this dreadful period. Not only Anne Frank, but countless Jews fought against the odds and found a way to survive and most importantly go on. Living life after experiencing such horror is something only brave men can do and Anne Frank’s diary is a testament to this spirit. The book is about survival. It’s about prejudice. It teaches how there is nobility in human compassion. And it’s also about a young girl trying to survive adolescence. Many teens can relate to such a book because Anne goes through all of the normal adolescent trials in life, even though she’s locked up. Anne has a difficult relationship with her mother, as most young girls do. She often says things to hurt her mother, yet she can’t help her temper and continues to do so as time goes on. She also goes through the beginning stages of love. Anne and Peter enjoy each other’s company, and that leads to a very close bond that many teens experience in their lives. Anne also struggles with her identity. She finds through her writing that there are two Annes: a good one and a bad one. She longs throughout the story to find someone who will relate to her. All of these feelings she has can relate to most teenagers, no matter what year it is. It is a universal book.

Finally, as a historical document, Anne Frank’s Diary, hits you in full force. How would you feel living under a constant fear, that one fine day, your entire life could be gone? Today we lead a comfortable life, and often get irritated over minor things. But what of this young girl, who finds her dream breaking away? Who dies every day to live another day? Anne Frank’s diary is at once depressing and yet uplifting. You feel depressed by the fact, that such a lovely young girl, finds her life being shattered. Yet at the same time you are inspired by her courage to face life as it comes. We don’t understand the fact that bigotry and racial hatred, ultimately destroy us. The whole of Germany had to face a heavy price, for Hitler’s Aryan supremacy. In that sense Anne Frank’s Diary is a novel, that needs to be read, by every human being, to understand the futility of fascism.

Reference

1. Kopf, Hedda. “Understanding Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents.” German Studies Review. June 2005, pp. 24 – 29
2. Blakemore, Erin. “How Anne Frank’s Private Diary became an Internet Sensation.” History Stories, July 31,2019. https://www.history.com/news/anne-frank-diary-symbol-holocaust
3. Shefer-Vanson, Dorthea. “CliffsNotes on The Diary of Anne Frank”. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/the-diary-of-anne-frank/summary-and-analysis/the-first-year
4. Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl. Bantam Books, 1993.

The smell of flowers filled the hospital waiting room, my mom and aunt talked, as me and my sister watched the T.V. Their annoyed faces and the low energy suggested that they were tired and wanted to go home. A bright red screen filled up the dimly lit room “Mom, look, the news!”, me and my sister both shouted excitedly. They both turned their heads quickly and gave their attention to the news report. “Oh my God, what happened?”. My mom gasped as live footage from the Century Sixteen Theater popped up on the screen. My mom quickly pushed me and my sister close, she held onto both of us, her heart pounded against her chest if she was scared of the people around us. Could it have been because she was terrified of the realization that she will eventually have to let us go into the real world?

In the Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank, Frank takes readers on a long difficult journey to womanhood, a journey in which one can go back to her simple days as a thirteen-year-old girl and witness her life completely change in two years. By confiding everything into her diary, she softened up to something/one that allowed her to speak her true mind. From writing about friends, drama, and boys to writing about war and her own beliefs. Anne Frank grew from a young girl to a young woman, using her diary as an outlet to channel her creativity and as a substitute for experiences that were denied by the war. Throughout her diary, the fight for humanity’s future is a big topic of discussion and with Frank’s courage and strength, one may consider her a key player in the fight for change. While many may see Anne Frank as a girl with many friends and a good home, Frank felt as if she had no true friend in the world. No one to have a meaningful conversation with. No one to share her ups and downs with. No one to encourage her. Frank’s motive to write came from the hope of confiding everything into something/one that she could not confide into her friends and family (Frank 6/12/1942).

Proving that this gift is not just any other gift for Frank. She sees the diary as a best friend, a friend who listens, and gives off no remarks whatsoever. Even during the war, Frank claims that “Kitty’s” patience is a key factor as to why she always winds up coming back to it (Frank 11/7/1942). Whenever Frank goes back to Kitty with news or drama, she never forgets to mention that Kitty is the only thing that would understand, suggesting that Frank is just a young girl who feels misunderstood by the world. Ultimately, the exigence for “The Diary of a Young Girl” can be said to be Frank’s longing for a true friend who listens and understands. Often, Frank reminds Kitty about two important lessons in her two-years-worth of entries: war is inevitable and love comes and goes.

As Frank states on the 5/3/1944, “I don’t believe the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have rebelled long ago! There’s a destructive urge in people, the urge to rage, murder and kill. And until all of humanity, without exception, undergoes a metamorphosis, wars will continue to be waged, and everything that has been carefully built up, cultivated and grown will be cut down and destroyed, only to start allover again!” In this example, Frank is amazed at people’s failure to understand that the purpose of war does not exist. Instead, it is caused by human hatred and violence two traits that lie deep within our human nature. Edith Frank struggled with living up to Anne Frank’s expectations, giving her no choice but to let her husband take over as the role model for Frank. The second Edith Frank had realized how fast the love was gone broke her heart. Once Anne Frank realized that her coldness does affect her mother, she felt guilty but also helpless because she could not pretend to love someone she does not love (Frank 4/2/43). After being consistently pushed around, made fun of, and not meeting Frank’s expectations Frank’s love for her mother is slowly fades away into nothing, leaving her dad as her only true love. As shown above, two big themes that Anne Frank shared were: war is inevitable and love comes and goes. Of course, these two themes both have an impact on Frank; justifying Frank’s decision to add them.

Mike Rosenbaum suggests that loneliness and fear may be connected to Frank’s repeated talks about war, claiming that they are effects of war, in the sense that one thing leads to another (www.enotes.com). Seeing that war’s inevitability to begin causes Frank to say goodbye to good friends and family, loneliness can be a noticeable problem for Frank at the beginning of the book, those late nights of uncertainty slowly spawn fear itself into Frank’s life and millions more. War had Frank just where it needed her to be. In a state of fear and disarray. “I cling to Father because my contempt of Mother is growing daily and it’s only through him that I’m able to retain the last ounce of family feeling I have left. He doesn’t understand that I sometimes need to vent my feelings for Mother…yet Mother, with all her shortcomings, is tougher for me to deal with. I don’t know how I should act. I can’t very well confront her with her carelessness, her sarcasm and her hard-heartedness, yet I can’t continue to take the blame for everything.” (11/7/1942).

The constant let downs from Edith Frank left Anne Frank reasonably upset and disappointed in her mother. Her inability to connect with her daughter shows that love’s effects on Frank are not to be ignored since they are the reason why she took her love for her mother and gave it to her dad. In short, the effects of these two themes (war is inevitable and love comes and goes) on Frank were big lessons that she had to overcome before she could share the big picture itself. A question that may arise from all this may be: what was the purpose? Why did she write in her diary? In her entrie on 3/29/1944, it was revealed in a broadcast that a collection of diaries and letters would be set in play after the war. After hearing this, Frank’s interest in publishing her book soared, hoping to share her side of the war and how it affected her life and others. It can be assumed that Anne Frank’s purpose for not including people’s real names in her more recent versions of the diary was because she had intentions of publishing them if it was not for her sudden death. Frank states, “Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me…paper does have more patience, and since I’m not planning to let anyone else read…now I’m back to the point that prompted me to keep a diary in the first place: I don’t have a friend…” (6/20/42). Here, Frank talks to Kitty as if it were a friend, a friend who just listens and helps Frank escape from a world where being misunderstood at such a young age was frowned upon.

Overall, Frank’s purpose for writing in her was because “Kitty” was her best friend who she trusted dearly and because she wanted to share her experiences with future generations. Loop back The smell of flowers filled the hospital waiting room, my mom and aunt talked, as me and my sister watched the T.V. Their annoyed faces and the low energy suggested that they were tired and wanted to go home. A bright red screen filled up the dimly lit room “Mom, look, the news!”, me and my sister both shouted excitedly. They both turned their heads quickly and gave their attention to the news report. “Oh my God, what happened?”. My mom gasped as live footage from the Century Sixteen Theater popped up on the screen. My mom quickly pushed me and my sister close, she held onto both of us, her heart pounded against her chest if she was scared of the people around us. Could it have been because she was terrified of the realization that she will eventually have to let us go into the real world?

The film, The Diary of Anne Frank, is based off a diary written by Anne Frank who was a Jewish girl hiding with her family and another family during World War II. The film opened up with the sound of church bells and footage of a truck with survivors of the holocaust. The truck stopped by a factory located in Amsterdam. A man stepped out of the truck and entered the factory and walked up the stairs to the attic which looked like a family once lived there. It turns out the man is Otto Frank and this is where he realized his family is gone. When realized what happened, Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies showed up. At this point, Miep Gies found Anne Frank’s diary and she handed it to Otto Frank.

The film transitioned to the date, July 1942, and at this point Anne Frank starts talking about herself and discussing what Jews could and could not do, which is why Anne Frank and her family ended up hiding in the attic of the factory. They shared the hiding place with another family of Jews who were the Van Dann’s. During the day time when the workers were in the factories the Frank’s and the Van Dann’s had to be silent so no one knew they were hiding up there. When the first day ended, Kraler brought them food, and box for Anne of pictures of her favorite movie stars and a diary. Most days after work Mr. Kraler would visit them in the attic with his assistant. Whenever he would visit them, he had to knock so Otto Frank knew who was knocking at the door so he does not open the door and it ends up being a police officer. At some point during their hiding Mr. Kraler brought them a radio in a book so they can find out what is going on outside and the progress of the war.

As time went on Otto Frank decided to school Anne and Margot who is her sister. As they are hiding, they constantly hear bombs going off all around them. As time went on, Kraler asked if they can take in one more Jew who is a Dentist named Albert Russell, they say yes but after they take him in they complain about the amount of food they go through. The Jewish dentist tells them how bad the conditions are outside the wall of the factory. Some of the conditions going on outside are jews being sent to concentration camps and he verified that Anne Frank’s friends have been arrested when she asked. As time passed, they all ended up fighting with each other and became very unhappy. At this point Anne started hitting puberty and growing into a young lady and has no one to talk to because she’s not close with her sister and is always fighting with her mother.

At one point, someone broke into the factory to try to steal money but hears a noise coming from above the office and ran. But a man says the door wide open and had to police officers check the place but the cat saved the two families life by meowing because the police officers thought it was an outside cat. As time went on while being locked up they listened to the radio to find out what was going on and this how they found out about Normandy Invasion. At the end of the film, the German police officers stormed through the doors and got through the bookcase door and arrested all of them. The film then transitioned to the year 1945, when Otto Frank explained that everyone that hide in this room has died but he always had faith that Anne would fight through because her optimism because she always believed everyone has a good heart.

There are a few themes that developed through the film. Throughout the film there is a pattern of loneliness and confinement from developing into a young lady. Becoming an adult and going through puberty can be difficult but it is even more difficult when living in Anne Franks environment. What makes it even more difficult is that she has no one to talk to because she’s not close to her sister and she is always fighting with her mom. She is close with her father but cannot share everything with him. This is all connected with being alone and confined from talking about it with someone. Even when Peter who is a young boy who is staying with them becomes close to her, he cannot even help because his lack of matureness. The diary also follows many roadblocks thought-out the years of growing up like being a Jew in German controlled Eastern Europe and how the genders are viewed.

Another theme that appears throughout the movie is how others that do not understand what was going on, they were generous and risked their lives to help the Jews like Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies who hide the Jews from the Germans. But within the walls there was greed because when they took in Albert Russell he turned into like Peter’s mom who is greedy like when she refused to sell her coat and when she started to hide the bread. He became greedy because he did not want Peter to keep his cat that he had because he was allergic but did not care about anyone else besides himself and this is the only attachment he had with anything was his cat until him and Anne grew closer. The film shows that even the citizens who are non- Jews will risk their lives but the Jews hiding who knows how it feels would not try to help each other throughout this difficult time. Throughout the film some develop into heroes and villains. The two biggest heroes in the film is Mr. Kraler and Miep Gies because they risked everything in their lives to save and hid this Jews in Nazi occupied area. The biggest villain in this film are the Nazis who are arresting the Jews and killing them.

Throughout the film, these used many cinematic techniques and devices to covey the plot and theme throughout the film. The sounds they use like the church bells mean to be quiet because it tells them what time of the day it is and they use it as a tool to know when they need to go silent. The German police truck sirens tell them that they are arresting Jews and it adds the suspense just as the church bells do. The director and producer focus in on the outside sounds at some points like airaid sirens, the truck sirens, even the bombing at night when they are being attacked. They used music to make the viewer feel the suspense towards the scene. The use of black and white in the film is used to show how dark the time period was and how the Frank and family and the other family felt throughout the film. The camera angles they used also showed when the scene was very stressful on the Jews that were hiding like Anne Frank and Peter. The scene that really showed the emotions of the characters was when the bombing was happening and when the glass broke and the camera was on everyone hiding in the attic. That scene showed the stress looks they all had because of the events happening.

The viewer is given a visual feel throughout the film for the period and the events throughout the film. The director and producer use many techniques to have the viewer get a visual feel. As an example, when the camera points towards out the windows like during the bombing of the city, makes you as a viewer feel what was going on and how everyone felt in the attic of the factory. Another example, is when the Germans are banging on the door of the factory and the bookcase. These scenes make you feel like you are actually in the attic panicking. Another scene that gives the viewer a visual feel is at the end when Anne Frank was starting to tear up when the German police officers came to arrest them, which as a viewer made me tear up a little because they worked and got so far to just get arrested.

The film The Diary of Anne Frank, is used to primarily inform, arouse emotions. In my opinion, I do not believe the film is used to persuade or entertain because what would they persuade in this film because everything that was going on actually happened. Also, I do not see this film as entertainment because the topic of the film which is the holocaust and I do not find the holocaust very entertaining or anything about the topic. The film is very much towards to inform the viewer of what actually happened in that part of Europe in World War II. Anne even mentioned about if someone finds my diary that will be used to tell them what she and her family went through and so she can tell them about the hardships she went through as she was growing up.

This film portrays what actually happened during the holocaust. The footage the director used showed the hardships that the Franks and the other family went through while hiding in the factory. From what I learned in other history classes about the holocaust many families, just like other families that hid, the Franks dealt with lack of food, tight spaces. Another concept that is common when they were hiding Jews in Eastern Europe was that they say the Jews leave to an area where they are free from any Nazi occupied areas. But if they did not run, they all hid like behind bookcases, paintings coving a door just like in the movie. Some of the poor conditions that are realistic that I saw in the film

INTRODUCTION

Close your eyes. Picture being stripped of everything you had ever owned; everything you had ever known. Stripped of your freedom, your dignity, your value as a human being. Marked with a yellow star, branding you as inferior. A target for verbal and physical assault. Forced into hiding. Living in constant uncertainty and fear. Left to wonder how long until you or your family are executed. This horrific scene is not fictional, but rather the tragic reality of Anne Frank, who recorded the horrors and heartache of history in her diary.

It is my great pleasure to welcome you here today to unveil Lluis Ribas’s portrait of Anne Frank. Anne’s face is not that of a hero, rather just a smiling girl with playful eyes, insightful beyond their tender years. Anne’s gaze does not rest upon what is in front of her, instead her focus probes the horizon, toward the future and the opportunities it holds. Over the years, the powerful messages captured from Anne’s diary, have offered encouragement to millions. Her courage, faith, resilience and optimism in the face of such overwhelming adversity continues to inspire generations today.

Although her journal revealed glimpses of the vulnerable teenager she was, Anne managed to find fortitude, despite hardship. Her resilience, courage, strength and determination while hiding in the secret annexe was truly inspiring. She knew that leaving the attic would likely result in her death, yet despite feeling trapped and scared, she persevered. Her words resonate with many people around the world, shaping her as a positive role model for many generations. Anne states that “I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear; my courage is reborn” (Page 196). Despite the horror, hopelessness and loss that Anne had to live in, her hope for a better future never faded, nor her undying belief in God and his protection. Anne found the light amid the darkness showing that “Beauty remains, even in misfortune” (Frank, 1947). Anne’s optimism demonstrated her willingness to see the good in humankind.

Six million people. Almost a quarter of Australia’s population, or, 1 million people more than now live in all of Queensland. That is how many were exterminated in the worst genocide of the twentieth century. Anne was but one, however, her message of social justice, freedom and equality for all remain as relevant and important today. The Diary of Anne Frank is a powerful story used to educate and empower young people to challenge all forms of prejudice and discrimination, in whatever package it comes disguised in. While Anne endures affliction frequently, her hope for the future never fades, and her enduring spirit is the quintessence of courage and equality for all.

The atrocities that Anne Frank endured throughout her life did not tarnish the way she saw the world. Horror, hopelessness and loss depicting the life Anne was stuck in, one where most people would have relinquished and spiralled into despair and hopelessness. But not Anne. She pushed through the darkness, making her the epitome of optimism. Whilst enduring affliction, Anne never lost hope showing her willingness to see the good in humankind. Anne wrote on July 15, 1944, that “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart… I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again.” (Page 237).

CONCLUSION

By commemorating Anne’s life through this portrait, it illustrates the modern-day relevance of her experience. Her story of perseverance, courage, compassion and hope amid despair continue to inspire us today and is why Anne’s message of social justice and equality for all remain as important today as it did 74 years ago. In leaving her story, she left a legacy. One that still lights fires in the hearts of those who read it. Faith hope and love. That is her legacy. “I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. 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!” (Frank, 1947). And indeed, she does, through the power of her words and now, through this portrait.