Anne Frank. When I see this name or hear this name my emotions are immediately stirred. I am both in awe of this girl and I pity her too. Never in my life has someone’s story affected me the way Anne’s did. I first read The Story of a Young Girl as a teenager. I found this yellow-stained book in my mom’s cupboard on one of my very naughty snooping adventures, but this little bit of cheekiness humbled my life in extraordinary ways and as a youngster the tragedy of the author’s life was a rude awakening at how cruel this world can be, but also how as humans, even under the worst circumstances, we can still remain faithful and positive until the very end.

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A Bit About Anne Frank

Annelies Marie Frank was born in Germany in 1929, but as a child she moved to Amsterdam, Holland with her family, to try and remove themselves from Nazi conflict that started to stir. Their move was to no avail however since in a few years Nazi rule invaded Holland and Anne and her family were forced into hiding. It was during this time (from 1942) that 13-year-old Anne Frank started diarising her time spent hidden in an annexe with family and friends while trying to avoid being sent to concentration camps and possibly death. 

The annexe was a three-story space entered from a landing above an office where trusted employees kept the secret of their hidden guests to their sole discretion. Eight individuals lived together in this tight space for two years, without leaving once. Windows had to be kept closed at all times and food other supplies was brought to them by the office employees, their helpers. This food had to be rationed sparingly, even more so towards the end, leaving the dwellers in a constant state of hunger.

Researchers hint that Anne was a talkative person, optimistic and caring. Her optimism shines through in her diary, where she remains hopeful and determined even on the hardest of days while in hiding. 

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What Happened To Anne Frank?

Sadly, her story ends in tragedy. Despite taking drastic measure to hide from the Nazi Germans, Anne and her family and friends were discovered in the secret annexe two year later. Her and her sister were both sent to a concentration camp where it is believed they died from typhus only a short while after they were found. The only survivor of the holocaust was Anne’s father, Otto, who was release back to Amsterdam after the war. One of the annex helpers had saved the diary and gave it to Otto on his return. Otto then published the diary of his beloved little girl.

Why I Draw Inspiration From This Young Woman’s Story 

The Diary of Anne Frank is a reminder to not take what we have for granted. It is a reminder of how cruel the world can be, but that it is up to us as humans to push through, to turn the bad in to as much good as we can. Anne Frank humbled me as a teenager, she turned me into an individual who does not take life for granted, but to appreciate life for what it is, it’s life! I am living, I am breathing, I have family, I have friends, I have food, I have water, I have love – what more could I really ask for? 

For her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942, Frank received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-white checkered cloth and with a small lock on the front, Frank decided she would use it as a diary, and she began writing in it almost immediately. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank  

If only this young girl knew how much of an impact her writing would have on the world…