Over one million children under the age of sixteen died in in World War II, not because of the bombs, but because they did not fit in as Hitler’s image of the "perfect" German.
Many children and their parents living in countries which had been invaded by the Germans were imprisoned and killed because they were Jewish.
Jewish people follow the religion known as Judaism. They are Jews.
Anne Frank was an ordinary German Jewish girl. She enjoyed playing with her toys, riding her bike and going to the seaside. However, all this was to change when Hitler came to power in 1933.
Hitler wanted to create what he saw was the perfect German, this meant that anyone who did not fit into his perfect image was persecuted (ill treated) and/or killed. Hitler persecuted German citizens who were Jewish, Gypsies, or otherwise "undesirables".
By the end of World War II, six million Jews were killed because they were, in Hitler's eyes, 'different'.
Anne Frank and other Jews were forced to think they were lower and inadequate to everyone else just because they had a different religious belief.
Many laws were made of what Jews could and couldn’t do, Anne describes some of these in her diary:
“Jews were required to wear a yellow star, Jews were forbidden to use trams, Jews were required to turn in their bicycles,Jews were forbidden to use any public sports centres, Jews were not allowed to watch any form of entertainment and so on”
Through her diary "The Dairy of Anne Frank", people all over the world are able to see what life as a persecuted Jew was like during World War II; thus gaining an appreciation for the sacrifices people made in the struggle to stay alive.
- June 12, 1929 - Anne Frank born in Frankfurt, Germany.
- Her parents were
Otto and Edith Frank
- Anne Frank's sister was called Margot
- Her father was an officer in the German army in World War I
- 1933 - Adolf Hitler's Nazi party come to power in Germany
Hitler begins his campaign against the Jews
- Anne Frank and her family move to Amsterdam 1933 where they hope to be safe from the Nazi Germans.
- May, 1940 - the Germans invade the Netherlands
- May 1942 - all Jews aged six and older are required to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes to set them apart from non-Jews.
- Jews are arrested just for being Jews.
- June 14 1943 - Anne starts writing her diary
- July 6, 1942 - Frank family go into hiding
- August 4, 1944 - Their hding place is discovered and they are arrested.
- September 3, 1944 - Frank family are transported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.
- October, 1944, Anne and Margot are transported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.
- March 1945 - Anne dies in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, from Typhus
Her diary is so important to people today because it tells
people what it was like to be a Jewish child growing up in a world where Jews were persicuted. Anne describes in her diary how she felt while she was in hiding, and how it
was very hard to survive in such a small living space.
- When did Anne receive her diary and what was the occasion?
Anne received on her 13th birthday in 1942, a diary from her parents.
- What did she name her diary?
Anne called her diary 'Kitty'.
- Why did this diary become so important?
- Did Anne intend to have the diary published and why?
Anne Frank did not become famous until after her death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and after the liberation of all concentration camps. Otto Frank, the only surviving member of the people hiding in the Secret Annex, later had Anne's dairy published.
Read about the life of Anne Frank
You can read about what life was like for Anne Frank through the diary she wrote of her experiences. Click here to read excerpts from Anne Franks Diary.
The story of Anne Frank - photographs
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