Transcript Introduction to Anne Frank

THE HOLOCAUST
Introduction to Anne Frank
So, who is
Anne Frank?
My Notes
My Comments
• Anne Frank was one of over one million
Jewish children who died in the Holocaust.
She was born Annelies Marie Frank on June
12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, to Otto and
Edith Frank.
• Anne’s father, Otto, was a successful
businessman in Frankfurt, Germany. When the
German government declared that Jews could
no longer attend the same schools as other
children, the Franks decided to move to the
friendlier city of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• In 1940, though, the Germans took over the
city, and Otto Frank began to prepare a hiding
place for his family. Two years later, Anne’s
older sister, Margot was ordered to report to a
concentration/labor camp.
• Because of this, Anne and her family went into
hiding in an apartment which would eventually
hide four Dutch Jews as well. For two years,
they lived in a secret attic apartment behind
the office of the family-owned business, which
Anne referred to in her diary as the Secret
Annex.
The Occupants of the Secret Annex
The Frank family
• Otto Frank (father)
• Edith Frank (mother)
• Margot Frank (18 years old when they went into hiding)
• Anne Frank (13 years old when they went into hiding)
The Van Pels family (Anne called them the Van Daans in her diary)
• Hermann Van Pels/Van Daan (father)
• Petronella Van Pels/Van Daan (mother)
• Peter Van Pels/Van Daan (16 when they
went into hiding)
Fritz Pfeffer (Dussel)
Fritz Pfeffer (called Albert Dussel in Anne’s diary)
Peter Van Pels (Van Daan)
• Otto Frank's friends and colleagues, Johannes
Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Jan Gies, and Miep
Gies, had previously helped to prepare the
hiding place and smuggled food and clothing
to the Franks at great risk to their own lives.
On August 4, 1944, the Gestapo (German
Secret State Police) discovered the hiding
place after being tipped off by an anonymous
Dutch caller.
• That same day, the Franks were arrested; the
Gestapo sent them to Westerbork on August 8. One
month later, in September 1944, police authorities
placed the Franks, and the four others hiding with
the Franks, on a train transport to concentration
camps. Selected for labor due to their youth, Anne
and her sister, Margot, were transferred to BergenBelsen, another labor/concentration camp. Mrs. Van
Pels (Van Daan) was sent to Thereseinstadt (another
camp) and Peter Van Pels (Van Daan) was sent to
Mauthausen (another camp).
Mr. Van Pels (Van Daan) died in September 1944
in Auschwitz.
Fritz Pfeffer (Dussel) died in Neuengamme on
December 20, 1944.
Anne's mother, Edith, died in Auschwitz in
early January 1945. Both sisters died of
typhus in March 1945, just a few weeks
before British troops liberated the camp
on April 15, 1945. Only Anne's father,
Otto, survived the war.
• Anne had received a diary for her thirteenth
birthday on June 12, 1942. While in hiding,
Anne recorded her fears, hopes, and
experiences in this diary. Found in the secret
apartment after the family was arrested, the
diary was kept for Anne by Miep Gies, one of
the people who had helped hide the Franks. It
was published after the war in many
languages and is used in thousands of middle
school and high school curricula in Europe and
the Americas. Anne Frank has become a
symbol for the lost promise of the children
who died in the Holocaust.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
VISIT:
• www.annefrank.org
• www.annefrankguide.net
• http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?
ModuleId=10005210
• And many more!
“In spite of everything, I
still believe that people are
really good at heart.”
- Anne Frank
July 15, 1944