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Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler Editors

Title: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Author: Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler Editors

Translator: Susan Massoty

Illustrator:

Publisher: Viking

Date Published: 1997

Format: Paperback

Genre:

Book Category: Biography

Age Range: 12+

Original Title: First published in Dutch, The Netherlands

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler Editors
Age Range: 12+

When the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and the march towards the Final Solution forced the young German Jew Anne Frank into hiding with her family, she took her diary with her and recorded the trials, tribulations and comic moments of two and a half years secreted away in an Amsterdam attic. Her diary (written in the form of letters to a friend called ‘Kitty’) follows the course of the war from 1942-1944 and charts the development of Anne as an adolescent and a writer until her family were betrayed and captured by the Nazis. Sadly, Anne died at Bergen Belsen in 1945, but her diary lives on as a testament to her memory and a tribute to a talent cruelly cut short.

The Diary of a Young Girl is now one of the most famous pieces of writing on the Second World War and is often touted as a book that young people studying the Holocaust ought to read. Anne’s diary charts the course of World War Two in Germany and the Netherlands and tells the real story of the War from a particular perspective; that of a German Jew living under ever-increasing persecution. Aside from using the diary in terms of a primary source to World War Two, this is a book that people ought to read because it is well written and a very moving, personal account of war. This happens because of the nature of Anne’s writing and the fact that her diary is really a work in progress. Anne laid herself bare, recording every thought and feeling and every detail of her daily life but was sadly denied the chance to write the end of her story, hone her skill and reconsider her work before editing it properly. Although Anne had started to self-edit, her narrative stops ‘in the middle’ and there are entries that are beautifully, maturely written but which still contain very raw emotions and give almost a surfeit of detail on the minutiae of life in the Annexe.

Such quality of information is also what makes the story fascinating and thought-provoking. Anne answers every single question that one could possibly have about what it would be like to live in hiding. It is the smallest points that we have perhaps not even considered that add poignancy to her writing and make one realise what living ‘freely’ actually means and how many things we take for granted. Some of the saddest passages in the novel are not descriptions of war or concentration camps but Anne saying she misses walking on grass and feeling fresh air and rain, describing how she cannot walk around for fear of being heard and betraying herself and explaining how it is possible to be simultaneously bored and constantly afraid.

These moments do not mean that Anne’s diary is a sad read throughout. Whilst Anne does not shy away from depicting the hardships of life in the Annexe, she also mentions lots of happy and funny times and her tone is cheerful, bright and optimistic. Described by her friends as chatty, fun-loving and friendly, these qualities shine through her writing and make Anne a very likeable and readable narrator. She is very much a teenage writer, however. As well as discussing her hobbies and interests and the latest books and films, Anne was also going through puberty and writes about her body and her awakening sexuality. Whilst these passages are few and are exceptionally mild, they do suggest that Anne’s diary is really a book for children from the age of twelve and up although there is no hard and fast rule as to when any child is ready to read such a book. Younger children often look at passages when they study World War Two, for example. The question of suitability here is more to do with the ability to intuit rather than to understand. A younger reader with a mature attitude would probably be able to keep up with Anne’s language and observe when she is happy and when she is depressed. An adolescent or older reader has a greater capacity to realise the depths of Anne’s feelings and understand why she feels a particular way towards herself. An older reader is probably also better equipped to understand the atmosphere inside the Annexe, which is fraught in ways more obviously noticeable to an adult than they are to a child.

The Diary of a Young Girl is often read as a backdrop to the events of World War Two, but it should be read for more than this. Moving, gripping and well written, Anne’s diary is a testament to her memory and a talent that was not allowed to come to fruition. It is all we have to tell us of all she might have been. It is thanks to Otto Frank’s determination that Anne should still achieve her dream that I have been able to enjoy reviewing this book after reading it many times, but I also feel sadness that I am not instead reviewing stories she had written, her diary as she imagined it or The Secret Annexe, the book she intended to write based on her experiences.

Abby Phillips (2012)

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