The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank

On her thirteenth birthday in June 1942, Anne Frank, a Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, received a diary. Within weeks, her family went into hiding to escape Nazi persecution, concealed with four other people in the secret annex behind her father’s business premises. For more than two years, Anne recorded her thoughts, hopes and experiences. The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most widely read and influential books of the twentieth century.

Anne writes with remarkable honesty, humor and insight about life in hiding: the cramped rooms, the constant fear of discovery, the shortages of food, the tensions and quarrels among the eight people forced to live together, and the courage of the helpers who brought them supplies at great risk to themselves. She describes her family, including her father, Otto, to whom she was especially close, her mother, with whom she often clashed, and her sister, Margot.

At the same time, the diary is the story of a teenager growing up. Anne writes about her changing feelings, her first love, her frustrations with adults, her questions about faith and human nature, and her dreams of becoming a writer and journalist. She reflects on the war and the persecution of the Jews with growing maturity.

In August 1944, the hiding place was betrayed and its occupants were arrested and deported. Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early 1945. Her father, the only survivor among the eight, published her diary after the war.

Moving and unforgettable, The Diary of a Young Girl is essential reading about the Holocaust and the human spirit. It deals with persecution, war and death.