Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt on 12th June 1929 and is one of the most discussed victims of the Holocaust after gaining fame posthumously for the diary she kept while hiding from the Nazis. And it’s this diary that makes 12th June even more significant because it was also the day on her 13th birthday when she received a diary to write in.
Anne was born in Germany to German born parents Otto and Edith Frank, both of whom lost citizenship in 1941 under Nazi rule. At this time the family were stateless and after Otto was refused entry for the family into the USA as refugees, they went into hiding in some concealed rooms in a building where Anne’s father worked. The family were eventually arrested by the Gestapo in August 1944 and shipped off to concentration camps. Anne died of typhus in Auschwitz along with her sister, the date of her death is unknown.
Sometime later the diary Anne kept while hiding came to light and was first published as Het Achterhuis or The Secret Annex. Today the book is better known as The Diary of a Young Girl. Today we’re sharing some of our favourite quotes from the diary.
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.
Although I’m only fourteen, I know quite well what I want. I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child. I feel quite independent of anyone.
No one has ever become poor by giving.
If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly by the hand, before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer.
Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn’t women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?
I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death!
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