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Anne Frank was born
Born June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany -
World War ll Began
On 1 September 1939, when Anne was 10 years old, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and so the Second World War began. Not long after, on 10 May 1940, the Nazis also invaded the Netherlands. Five days later, the Dutch army surrendered. -
Laws
Slowly but surely, the Nazis introduced more and more laws and regulations that made the lives of Jews more difficult. For instance, Jews could no longer visit parks, cinemas, or non-Jewish shops. The rules meant that more and more places became off-limits to Anne. Her father lost his company, since Jews were no longer allowed to run their own businesses. All Jewish children, including Anne, had to go to separate Jewish schools -
The Diary
On her 13th birthday, just before they went into hiding, Anne was given a diary. During the 2 years in hiding, Anne wrote about events in the Secret Annex, but also about her feelings and thoughts. In addition, she wrote short stories, started on a novel and copied passages from the books she read in her Book of Beautiful Sentences. Writing helped her pass the time. Also she played with, Mouschi, Peter's cat because Anne was forced to leave her own cat, Moortje, behind after the Nazi invasion -
Call-Up
The Nazis took things further, one step at the time. Jews had to start wearing a Star of David on their clothes and there were rumors that all Jews would have to leave the Netherlands. When Margot received a call-up to report for a so-called 'labor camp’ in Nazi Germany on 5 July 1942, her parents were suspicious. They did not believe the call-up was about work and decided to go into hiding the next day in order to escape persecution -
Hiding
In July 1942, the Frank family went into hiding. The Van Pels family followed a week later. The two families already knew each other: Hermann van Pels worked for Otto Frank’s company. Four months later, they were joined by an eighth person: Fritz Pfeffer, an acquaintance of the Frank family -
Arrest
Friday, 4 August 1944 was a warm and sunny day in Amsterdam. To the people in hiding, it was the 761th day in the Secret Annex. Between half past ten and eleven in the morning, police officers showed up at the warehouse..The people in hiding were completely taken by surprise. Helpers Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were arrested together with the eight people from the Secret Annex but later deported elsewere. By then, it was around 1 pm: the raid had taken a little over two hours -
Auschwitz
The eight people from the Secret Annex were sent to the detention centre at the Weteringschans from there they were sent to death camp Auschwitz. Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Nazi doctors checked to see who would and who would not be able to do heavy forced labour. Around 350 people from Anne's transport were immediately taken to the gas chambers and murdered. Anne, Margot and their mother were sent to the labour camp for women. Otto ended up in a camp for men. -
Death
In early November 1944, Anne was put on transport again. She was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with Margot. Their parents stayed behind in Auschwitz. The conditions in Bergen-Belsen were horrible too. There was a lack of food, it was cold, wet and there were contagious diseases. Anne and Margot contracted typhus. In February 1945 they both died owing to its effects, Margot first, Anne shortly afterwards. -
Liberation
Out of the eight people in in hiding, Anne's father Otto was the only survivor, when the war ended he returned to the Netherlands to discover that his wife Edith, and two daughters were dead. Upon returning to the old hiding spot he found Anne's diary. Anne's writing made a deep impression on Otto. He read that Anne had wanted to become a writer or a journalist and that she had intended to publish her stories about life in the Secret Annex. -
Publishing
Friends convinced Otto to publish the diary and in June 1947, 3,000 copies of Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) were printed, and in over 70 languages. People all over the world were introduced to Anne's story and in 1960 the hiding place became a museum: the Anne Frank House. Until his death in 1980, Otto remained closely involved with the Anne Frank House and the museum: he hoped that readers of the diary would become aware of the dangers of discrimination, racism, and hatred of Jews
