Just three weeks after her 13th birthday, Anne Frank was forced into hiding from the Nazis, along with her parents Otto and Edith and her sister Margot. The diary became Anne’s closest companion in the Secret Annex, the hidden space behind her father’s business. There, Anne wrote about her life in hiding and celebrated her 14th and 15th birthdays. These were rare bright moments in a life dominated by fear, tension, irritation, and boredom. On the day of the arrest, 4 August 1944, Anne’s first and subsequent diaries were left behind. Helper Miep Gies preserved the diary papers in her desk drawer, hoping she would one day be able to return them to Anne.
Otto Frank
Otto Frank survived the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp. On his journey back home, he learned that his wife Edith had died in Auschwitz. Later, on 18 July 1945 in Amsterdam, he received the news that both his daughters had also perished, in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. That same day, Miep Gies gave him Anne’s diary papers, saying: “This is your daughter’s legacy.” At first, Otto could not bring himself to read the diary. But a month later, when he changed his mind, he could not put it down. Some time afterward, he decided to have Anne’s diary published, thus fulfilling his daughter’s posthumous wish. The book was published on 25 June 1947. Anne had already chosen the title herself: The Annex.
A gift of Diaries
Today, Anne Frank’s diary has been published in more than 75 languages and is the most widely read diary in the world. What does Anne Frank’s diary mean to you? Using the hashtag #AnneFrank96, people are sharing on social media what the diary means to them. In New York, a special initiative is marking Anne Frank’s 96th birthday: no fewer than 10,000 diaries will be distributed this summer to schools and libraries throughout the city, with support from Bank of America and the UJA-Federation of New York.