The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

 

The Diary of a Young Girl

by Anne Frank

 

 

 

        I recently started a very intense and disturbing book that my mother has been suggesting I read for a long time called The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  Being a Jew, I feel it is important for me to know and understand what has happened to Jews in history.  In this book, Anne Frank's life changes dramatically when the Nazis invade Holland and start bringing Jews to concentration camps to be tortured and killled.  Although Anne is hidden away from the fighting in a secret annex (cave), World War II is very real.  Anne is separated from her parents who were captured by the Nazis.

        A theme of this book is one of hope and courage despite the horrors of World War II.  It reminds me of another book I read in 5th grade called Number the Stars by Lois Lowry which is set in Denmark and tells the story of one brave girl who helps protect her Jewish friend while surrounded by the Nazis.  The books are similar in that both Jews and non Jews are equally afraid, and in spite of that, courageous in the face of the Nazis.

        As Anne Frank writes in her diary, she is afraid and disturbed as she tries to make sense of the horrors of the war, yet she never gives up hope.  She hears the air raids and the battle and fears for her and her family's life.  She is worried about being discovered and sent to a concentration camp to be killed.  The Dutch protectors bring the news from the outside to her and she also learns about what is happeniung by listening to her portable radio.  Through all of this, she somehow teaches the reader to never give up hope and to stay positive.  At one point she writes,

               "And I now know that first and foremost, I shall require courage

                and cheerfulness."

She also writes,

                "I truly believe that people are really good at heart."

Though Anne wonders if she will live through the end of the war and be united with her family, she showed the most amazing courage and bravery through the most difficult of circumstances.

 

 

      Anne Frank in 1942