Anne Frank's birthday is June 12. She would have been 85 years old if the Nazis had not killed her.
I first read her diary for a class in high school. I don't remember which class or which teacher or how old I was or what I was obsessing about, but I remember her book, the silence I felt as I read it, and I remember how slowly I read it because I didn't want the book and her life to end.
There weren't a lot of books about the Holocaust available to me back then in the early 60s. This book was the first, and it taught me something profound about that experience. The suffering and death of even a single person can touch and change a person.
Here's a link to one of the best website's about her: the Anne Frank page at the US Holocaust Memorial. Just click on the words US Holocaust Memorial.
The site includes interviews with those who knew Anne Frank, information about her diary, weblinks, and the shared thoughts of many people who have read Anne's diary and been touched by her and her story.
You might also want to take a look at a youtube done by the poet Lois P. Jones. It collects a series of photos of Anne and her family. Click here.
Feel free also to leave a note here about Anne Frank.
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I welcome your "silences" here, because even after so many years the subject requires a great deal of space in which to absorb it. What saddens me most about her story is that she died so soon after her sister and just days before the camp was liberated. Anne, being such a strong character in our minds should have survived but I guess the disease and loss were just too much to take. Perhaps she thought all was lost and that her parents were gone too. It's the only thing I can imagine. It is a miracle the father survived -- the one she seemed to love most in life. He created a legacy of dignity and devotion, writing all the thousands of children and others who sought to know and understand Anne's short life. As we know, there are so many stories and there will continue to be stories for decades because truth has a way of sifting up to the surface no matter attempts to obliterate it. Thank you for your thoughts on Anne and for posting in recognition of her. And thank you for continuing the legacy of your parent's lives. Through your reflections I have learned so much, felt so much. You are brave to carry the burden and continue to share it with the world.
ReplyDelete82. Wow. STILL SO YOUNG.
ReplyDeleteUghhhh. I loved her writing. Her heart.
her story breaks my heart.such a brave girl caught up in the madness
ReplyDeleteGood Writing
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