THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL (English)
Introduction
The Diary of a Young Girl is the autobiography of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl.
This book is a story of courage and resilience, as young Anne Frank and her family hide from the Nazis.
Read about how the Holocaust unfolds; forcing the Jews to live a life of misery.
Follow Anne's life before the war, as she writes daily entries in her diary discussing: her school, her friends, and her family. Her diary shows you the transformation of a young teenager who is forced to live with the consequences of war. Discover how she survived in hiding with another family for two years.
Anne`s entries mingle stories of her daily routine with the horrors of the war and the constant fear of being caught.
This book is a deep-rooted insight into the life of an ordinary Jew living under Hitler's brutal rule.
June 14, 1942 – July 5, 1942
The book begins with Anne Frank mentioning how she received her diary (which she calls Kitty) as a gift. She tells the readers about the presents she received on her birthday including: a bouquet of roses, a blue blouse, and a potted plant. She describes in detail her school friends, as well as who she is fond of at school.
Anne finds a friend in her diary, and through writing is able to express her honest feelings. She believes that paper has more patience to listen than people.
She goes on to give a brief outline of her life. Anne states that she is a 12-year old Jewish girl with a sister named Margot; they live with their parents in Frankfurt, Germany.
Anne also mentioned her teacher, Mr. Keesing; an old man who taught math. Mr. Keesing wasn’t fond of Anne's habit of talking in class. After repeated warnings, Mr. Keesing assigned Anne extra homework which was to write an essay entitled “A Chatterbox.” This is an expression which refers to a very talkative person.
Anne wrote in her essay that talking is a female trait that she couldn't get rid of, and that she inherited this trait from her mother; who talked as much as Anne did.
Mr. Keesing then gave her another essay assignment on the subject “An Incorrigible Chatterbox”. The word incorrigible means a person who is impossible to change. Anne submitted it.
When Mr. Keesing finally had had enough, he assigned Anne the essay entitled, “'Quack, Quack, Quack', said Mistress Chatterback.”. For this essay, Anne wrote a poem with the help of a friend. It was about a mother duck and a father swan that had three baby ducklings. The father swan bit his baby ducklings to death because they quacked too much. Mr. Keesing understood what Anne meant and he never again gave her extra homework. The teacher realised that Anne had an inherited trait of talking and that she couldn't change her habits.
Through this talkative twelve year old girl, we learn about the events of the Holocaust. Anne mentioned how in the 1940s, Jewish people had to begin wearing a yellow Star of David badge so they could be identified easily as Jews.
At this time Jews were also forbidden from using cars. They also had to surrender their bicycles. They were only allowed to shop between three and five PM, and they were forbidden to be outside after eight PM. Jews could not go: to the theatre, use tennis courts, or swimming pools. Jewish children were only allowed to attend a Jewish school.
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Sunday, July 5, 1942 – October 9, 1942
Anne wrote in her diary that her father was talking about going into hiding and how difficult it would be to be cut off from the world. He told Anne that he didn’t want their belongings to be taken away by the Nazis.
A few days later, Margot (Anne's sister) told her that their father had received a call from the SS (the German Police). Anne immediately thought of the concentration camps; she was frightened.
Later, Margot told her sister that the call was not for their father, but for Margot.
This scared Anne even more. Their mother told them that Margot would not have to go to a concentration camp and that their whole family would go into hiding. They packed their belongings and left their house that evening. They intended to go into hiding at Anne's father's office. Anne wrote in her diary that she dislikes not being able to go out.
She mentions her growing distance from her mother and sister. Anne felt that she's treated differently than her sister. She wrote about how her sister broke the vacuum cleaner, but she wasn't scolded. One day, Anne had to re-write the shopping list that her mother had written. She complained that she couldn't understand her mother’s handwriting. Because of that, Anne was scolded. She wrote in her diary that she felt that only her father understood her.
A month later, the Van Daans family arrived. The Van Daans were another Jewish family that were going to hide in her father’s office. Because the Nazis were searching for Jews everywhere, a bookcase was built to conceal the hiding place. It looked like just another bookcase in the office, but it was actually a secret door.
Anne mentioned that many of her Jewish friends were being taken away by the Nazis to concentration camps. She wrote that the Jews there received limited food and water, and how there was only one toilet for thousands of people.
Anne wrote that she thought Hitler took their nationality away. The Jews lived all their lives as Germans, and suddenly Hitler declared that anyone of Jewish descent were no longer Germans.
There are two very different themes in The Diary of A Young Girl. We witness a teenager growing up and talking about her teenage-life; discussing her relationship with her friends and family. At the same time, we witness the effects of the war on her life and her reactions to them.