When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, his dream was to create a society of pure Aryan race. In the process, an organized system of genocide was set in motion and six million lives were forever silenced.
Except for one.
Hitler's "final solution" found its foil in a frail, thirteen-year old girl. Anne Frank gave face to the unbearable heartbreak that was the Holocaust. Her diary became the voice of the Jews and brought to fore not only their tremendous sufferings, but also the hopes and courage that saw them through those dark, uncertain times.
Although written in Europe a half-century ago, the diary of Anne Frank continues to move and affect lives. Anne was a product of extraordinary circumstances, singular in its malevolence and cruelty. However, many of her feelings, frustrations, and dreams are those of an ordinary teenager. Thus, the reader is able to identify with her while learning about a terrible time in history. Throughout her ordeal, what shines through is Anne's sense of humor and optimism. A powerful testimony to her resiliency, Anne's diary is both sobering and inspiring.
In order to escape persecution, Anne's family moves to Netherlands. She prays that her family's decision to transfer will give them the chance to start a new life. However, the long arm of Hitler's anti-Semitic (Jewish) campaign reaches Netherlands. With the help of friends, Anne and her family hide in a secret attic to keep safe. All at once, her free and colorful world transforms into a world of confinement and isolation.
However, confinement does not deter Anne from knowing about the outside world. She listens to radio reports of the war's progress. She fears for her family, her friends, and herself. In an effort to overcome her anxieties, Anne confides in her diary, which she names "Kitty" and treats as a personal friend. Anne's diary chronicles her two-year imprisonment in the "Secret Annexe." That Anne continues to grow mentally and emotionally under these dire circumstances testifies to the ability of the human spirit to transcend physical imprisonment.
On August 1944, just before the Allied forces liberated Europe, Anne and her family were discovered and taken into a concentration camp. Anne, only fourteen, died of typhus a few months later. Her diary was found in the attic and was first published in German in 1947.
Behind the frail girl's diary lies a shining example of life's tenacity and ability to flourish under the harshest and most debased of conditions. Anne Frank's purity of heart single-handedly redeemed the tragedy of the Holocaust and reclaimed the dignity of human life.
Indeed, hers is a story we must always remember. Hers is a life we should all aspire to live.
