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Anne Frank

Anne Frank was one of the most famous Holocaust victims, due to the journal she kept as a teenager while in hiding, which was later published under the renowned title The Diary of Anne Frank. Anne was born in June 12,1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. The Frank family fled anti-Semitism in Germany, to Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1933, where they lived a relatively normal life until September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland setting in motion the beginning of World War II. On May 10, 1940, German troops invaded The Netherlands, occupying the country five days later. AFter failed attempts to emigrate to the US, Anne's parents Otto and Edith decided to take the family into hiding, together with the family of Otto's Jewish business partner Hermann van Pels and later joined by dentist Fritz Pfeffer. They remained in the secret quarters in the back of Otto's company building, which Anne referred to as the Secret Annex, for two years. During that time, in which they never left their hiding place, Anne's diary served as a form of escape for her in which she chronicled her experiences, thoughts and emotions. On August 4, 1944, the hidden eight were found and arrested by the Nazis. They were taken to a concentration camp called Camp Westerbork in the northeastern Netherlands, before being transferred to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, on September 3, 1944. After several months, Anne and her sister Margot were again moved, this time to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. Both sisters died of typhus in March 1945, just weeks before British soldiers liberated the camp. Anne was 15-years-old. Otto was the only one of the eight who survived the war, and Miep Gies, an Austrian who helped the Frank family hide, found Anne's diary and gave it to Otto. Anne wrote in her diary that she hope to be a writer one day and that wanted her journal published a novel. On June 25, 1947, 'The Secret Annex' was published, followed by many more editions, translations, a play and a film. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam was made into a museum in 1960.

This week in Jewish history: Anne Frank’s first diary entry, Israel bombs Iraqi nuke reactor

A highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History.

|BySTEVEN DRUCKER
Anne Frank diary in Madame Tussauds museum on April 25, 2017 in Amsterdam Netherlands.
Anne Frank diary in Madame Tussauds museum on April 25, 2017 in Amsterdam Netherlands.

Jacqueline van Maarsen, Anne Frank's best friend, dies at 96

Van Maarsen was cited by Anne Frank in her famous 'Diary' and wrote several books about their friendship.

|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Jacqueline van Maarsen smiles as she examines the first memorial brick in the Names Monument of Amsterdam, the Netherlands on Sept. 23.

Jacqueline van Maarsen, Anne Frank’s best friend, dies at 96

Jacqueline Van Maarsen was the daughter of a Jewish father and a mother who was raised Christian and converted to Judaism.

|ByBEN SALES/JTA
Britain's Queen Camilla, patron of the Anne Frank Trust, lights a candle during a reception for Holocaust Memorial Day at the Hilton Park Lane in London, Britain, January 23, 2025.

'Never forget', says UK's Queen Camilla at Holocaust remembrance event

Camilla said it was crucial to remember the Holocaust given anti-Semitism was at its highest level for a generation.

|ByREUTERS

“I should have been as famous as Anne Frank” - The untold story of Sheindi Miller

Sheindi described watching her family fragment before her eyes, holding her diary like a lifeline. “Writing was the only thing I could control, even as everything else was taken from me."

NOVEMBER 27, 2024
Sheindi Miller

Demonstrators with Nazi flags target a Michigan production of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’

Demonstrators held flags with Nazi swastikas and reportedly chanted a pro-Donald Trump slogan.

NOVEMBER 12, 2024
ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
(L-r) Demonstrators waved Nazi flags across the street from a community theater production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" in Howell, Michigan, Nov. 9, 2024; the group then moved onto nearby Fowlerville, Michigan.

Can European sports events truly protect Israeli, Jewish fans? Are they trying to? - comment

Sure, Israel is under attack, has been at war, and it’s far from perfect. But it is the land that will take in and protect Jews, and that is something that didn’t exist in 1939.

NOVEMBER 10, 2024
ByJOSHUA HALICKMAN
PEOPLE CELEBRATE as Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans arrive at the Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday after overnight attacks in the Dutch capital after the match between Maccabi and Ajax Amsterdam

'Free Gaza': Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam defaced for second time in one month

The Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam was vandalized with "Free Gaza" for the second time in a month, highlighting rising antisemitism in the Netherlands.

AUGUST 5, 2024
Statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, defaced with "Gaza" in red.

Norwegian street artist defends mural of Anne Frank in a keffiyeh

Töddel is far from the first to use symbols of the Holocaust to protest for Palestinians.

JULY 27, 2024
ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
A mural of Anne Frank wearing a keffiyeh in Bergen, Norway, painted by the anonymous artist Töddel, July 2024.

Defacing Anne Frank's statue isn't helping 'Gaza', it's just evil antisemitism - opinion

By defacing the statue of Anne Frank with the word Gaza in red paint, the perpetrator has shown his true colors.

JULY 13, 2024
ByJONATHAN LIEBERMAN
THE STATUE of Anne Frank at Merwede Square in Amsterdam, where she lived until she went into hiding in 1942, is defaced with the word ‘Gaza’ written in red paint on it.

Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam defaced with 'Gaza' graffiti, mayor calls for public's assistance

The Anne Frank statue in Amsterdam was vandalized with 'Gaza' graffiti, drawing condemnation from Dutch politicians and calls for witnesses to report the incident.

JULY 9, 2024
Statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam. Taken in 2005

BBC re-releases archived interview with Otto Frank on decision to publish Anne Frank’s diary

Otto Frank told the BBC of his difficulty in both reading the diary and making the decision to publish it.

JUNE 29, 2024
ORIGINAL, DIARY of Anne Frank, 1942.

Dutch tram company that carried Anne Frank to her doom sought compensation after war, research show

Most of the Jews forced onto the trams did not survive: More than 100,000 Dutch Jews — three-quarters of the country’s Jewish population — were murdered in the Holocaust.

MARCH 9, 2024
ByTOBY AXELROD/JTA
The site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz is pictured during the ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp and International Holocaust Victims Remembrance Day, in Brzezinka near Oswiecim, Poland, January 27, 2020.

Prominent Jewish book-ban advocate says Florida’s crackdown on ‘challenges’ won’t deter him

The governor endorsed a proposed law that would let districts impose a $100 fee on parents who object to more than five books.

FEBRUARY 21, 2024
ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
ORIGINAL, DIARY of Anne Frank, 1942.

Holocaust education program postponed at three UK schools due to ‘community tensions’ - report

The Anne Frank Trust helps primary and secondary schools across the UK with holocaust education, primarily through Anne Frank's diary.

JANUARY 26, 2024
ORIGINAL, DIARY of Anne Frank, 1942.