Amsterdam

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who went into hiding with family and acquaintances in the Achterhuis, on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht canal. She became world-famous for the diary she wrote during World War II, when Nazi Germany occupied large parts of Europe between 1933 and 1945. Features of this war were nationalism, political repression, racist persecution of the Jewish people in particular and ultimately genocide (the holocaust).

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1929. National Socialism, an ideology akin to fascism that emerged in Germany shortly after World War I, was brewing in her native country. In 1933, Hitler and his party, the NSDAP, came to power. Shortly afterwards, Germany turns into a totalitarian dictatorship. That year, through terrifying events and the construction of the first concentration camp at Dachau, the foundations are laid for the Nazis to seize power. For Anne and her father Otto, mother Edith and older sister Margot, this is the reason why they eventually flee to the Netherlands.

Initially, Anne lives at Merwedeplein in Amsterdam around 1934. Her father has started the company Opekta on Prinsengracht in a building where the later hiding place, the famous Achterhuis, is also set up for the people in hiding. At that time, life is still fairly quiet and carefree. Anne goes to kindergarten and later the Montessori school on Niersstraat. Otto Frank described her as only a loving father could: ‘She had not yet entered the room or things were already getting turbulent, especially because she often brought a whole bunch of children with her. She was very popular because she also always had ideas about what game they could play and where they might get something out of it¹.’ And her mother Edith says of her, ‘’Anne stays home from school in the afternoon to sleep, which does her so well; she is very cheerful, but sensitive and nervous².’

The relative calm of the Dutch population came to a rough end on 10 May 1940 when the German occupiers invaded the Netherlands. When Rotterdam is bombed by the Germans four days later, the Netherlands capitulates. The country is then under the reign of terror of Nazi Germany. From then on, the situation only gets grimmer. A year later, the Nazis impose all kinds of bans on Jews to isolate them as much as possible.

Many places are ‘forbidden to Jews’, such as cinemas, parks and libraries. Jews are also not allowed to play sports in public or be members of sports clubs. Much to her chagrin, Anne is no longer allowed to skate in the winter of 1941-1942. Jewish students are also required by the Nazis to attend separate schools. Anne and Margot attend the Jewish Lyceum at 1 Voormalige Stadstimmertuin.

In July 1942, Anne's sister Margot is summoned to report to the Germans. She has to go with them to one of the camps in German-occupied Poland. This prompts the Frank family to go into hiding. Hiding place is the back house of the company building of Opekta, Otto Frank's company. In these cramped quarters, Anne and seven others hide from the enemy for no less than two years. During this period, Anne writes down everything on her mind in her famous diary. Her fears, joyful moments, poetry, her infatuation and view of the world. She entrusts it to her diary.

Anne and the others are eventually arrested. Possibly by treason, although this was never conclusively proven. The staircase to the hideout, hidden behind a bookcase in Opekta's office, is discovered. Anne goes into captivity for a few days in the SD building on Euterpestraat, now Gerrit van der Veenstraat. She then spends some time in the House of Detention on the Weteringschans, before being deported to Westerbork in Drenthe, a transit camp.

On 3 September 1944, Anne, her family and friends, go from Westerbork to one of the extermination camps. After a harsh train journey, they arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp. From there, Anne and her sister, separated from the rest, have to go to Bergen-Belsen (northern Germany) after some time. The conditions are inhuman. Hygienic conditions are terrible. Anne and Margot both fall ill and die of a serious illness in March 1945, just before the capitulation of Germany and the liberation ...

After the war, Anne Frank becomes the best-known victim of the persecution of Jews in World War II. She has become an inspiration for many young writers, as well as those seeking hope. Her innocence in that harsh and oppressive war and her search for the meaning of existence, combined with her positive attitude and her fighting spirit, are a source of support. In the midst of a world on fire, people like Anne Frank teach us from bitter experience that there are also those who seek justice and long for a better world.

'What has happened we can no longer change. All we can do is learn from the past and realise what discrimination and persecution of innocent people mean³.'


This Premium cycle route was compiled by our editor: Martin van Rhee.

Sources:
¹ Frank, Otto, ‘Erinnerungen an Anne’ (typescript, 1968).
² Anne Frank Foundation, Anne Frank Collection: Edith Frank to Gertrud Naumann, 8 November 1937.
³ Otto Frank, 1970