The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl is a translated version of Anne Frank‘s diary; set from the time with the Germans occupying Holland up until the Franks and the Van Daans’ hideout, the “secret annexe” was discovered by the Gestapo in which she spent the last years of her life.

In her diary, this thirteen-year-old Jewish girl meticulously recorded her impressions of her experiences during the period. She was not afraid to voice out her thoughts, the cruelty they’ve encountered in their life while Holland was in the hands of the Nazis. But despite these cruelties, Anne managed to write her daily life with thoughtful, amusing and moving words, where she shared a level of positivity on human courage to survive against all odds.

“I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.” — Anne Frank

This quote somewhat caught my attention the moment I’ve turned the page to start reading her first diary entry. I thought, hey, that’s how I’ve treated my diary before when I was in her age. Maybe, people who somehow feels alone even though they have the family and friends they need, writing is still the most essential way to express your thoughts than to talk about it with man; a paper will never ever judge you no matter what you write in it.

“I want to go on living even after my death.” — Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s wish has come true. Her diary was first privately circulated by her father, Otto Frank as a memorial to his family. But as years gone by, it was published to different editions across Europe and later on in the US and was translated into thirty-one languages. There are other several memorials to her too, including the Montessori School she attended which is now the Anne Frank school and to name a few.

“Her voice was preserved, out of the millions that were silenced, this voice no louder than a child’s whisper… It has outlasted the shouts of the murderers and has soared above the voices of time.” — Ernst Schnabel

In addition, since this is a young teenage girl’s diary, I really don’t give a damn about the writing and other cons. For me, the very most important thing in this book that some readers failed to see (thus giving the book a rather one or two-star rating) is the value and importance of life, the freedom and true joy that she hoped to have but didn’t get the chance to live with during the Holocaust period.

Read From: May 31 – June 3, 2018 (Re-read)
Lakambini Rate: 4.1/5
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About the Author

Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank was a German-born diarist. One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis in Dutch; English: The Secret Annex), in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world’s most widely known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, Netherlands, having moved there with her family at the age of four and a half when the Nazis gained control over Germany. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941 and thus became stateless. By May 1940, the Franks were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne’s father worked. From then until the family’s arrest by the Gestapo in August 1944, Anne kept a diary she had received as a birthday present, and wrote in it regularly. Following their arrest, the Franks were transported to concentration camps. In October or November 1944, Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died (probably of typhus) a few months later.