I have read a few books in my life about this horrible time in history but I never got around to this book.

I thought Anne was sweet and I was so happy for her and her little diary. But, the end is just so very sad. Anne's family and the other family that were in hiding with them for two ish years were caught. The things Anne had to see before she wasn't any more. Well, yeah, I cried. I mean she doesn't mention this as she left her diary when they were seized of course. There is some documented things at the end of the book. The only one to survive was Anne's father

What do I take from this, be happy for what you have, it could be so much worse. And though I am home bound for reasons and only get out when mom takes me to all the doctors and we manage a store in the same day, I want to live my inside life the best I can. I don't have the fear of being dragged out of my house and possibly killed because of some deranged people :-( So here's to you Anne and all the others like you. Love, Mel

It happened. That thing, the reason I have put off reading this, happened. My heart broke. And I knew it would. Sure, I had heard of Anne Frank, I knew who she was, what she did, what happened. She is a historic figure, and a tragic one certainly. But I didn't make the really personal connection until I read her words, this diary. Her words bring her to life again. What a precocious young girl, so smart, so full of life; a life with so much promise, so much hope. She thinks, even writes, very much like a young girl would today. I think that's why so many young people feel a connection with her still. It's not a great work of literature. It can be tedious at times, even repetitive. But it's an important contribution to history. It tells a story that needs to be told again and again, not forgotten. Yes, Anne's words do give her life, and they will break your heart. But more importantly they resonate across time and around the world, and I expect they always will.

The thing that amazes me the most about this book is what an amazingly talented writer Anne was. Seriously, she started her diary when she was thirteen, and her writing is better than some famous modern authors I could name. *coughStephanie Meyercough*
Anne was already writing like a sensitive, intelligent adult by the time she was fifteen. If she had lived, and continued writing, there is no doubt in my mind that she would now be considered one of the best authors of her time.

Why do we write reviews?
You have a lot of reasons I guess.

But for this review there is only one. I am writing this for my conscience.
Ever since I have rated this book, I always end up asking myself that, have I rated it with something it deserved or was it just out of sympathy (some call it pity vote)?

Reading other reviews (although most people just rate it and proceed) posed me with many other questions and also gave me idea of what people generally think about her and her diary.

So I’m going to start with-
DO WE DESERVE to review or even rate this book diary?
Yes it is a diary not a book. And aren’t diary meant to be something personal? Yes they are, but it was Anne's wish to get her diary published and she even went on to fictionalize the diary by changing names.

When I started this book I knew how it would end and who doesn’t! I had the least of the expectation, knowing that she was 13 years old but she just surprised me by the outlook she carried of life. She thought and wrote over few such things that didn’t occur to my mind until I read it but have applied throughout my life.
She at times made me laugh, at times made me feel sad. If she felt something, her writing definitely made me experience it and thus she overcame my expectation by large margin.

I have read in lot of review that her thoughts were way ahead of her age.
Of course they were, difficult conditions make you mature and responsible, but there were also other people living under the same roof and in same condition, the suffering had even effect on them. I remember the letter exchange between two sisters, at that point after reading Margot’s letter, for the first time I realised Anne was still child among them.

Some say she could visualize herself and her thoughts and actions from different perspective and thus realise her fault.
The thing with diary is that it is a lopsided view of the events. She would write her thoughts and what she wrote of others were her interpretation of them.....I have it in my mind but can’t put it in words and why should I! Does it matter what kind of girl was she? 'NO’ from me.

Last thing that occur to me is that many people found it uninteresting and tiresome.
I liked it, it couldn’t get any better. I mean they were in hiding for their life in a same house for two years without even opening the window; they were not solving murder mystery. I remember that when I was halfway through the book, I would every now and then turn to the last diary entry and count the days that remained. I felt very sad and depressed and it would have been the last thing to occur to me that it was uninteresting; I was just taken by her wish to see the outside world again, feel the fresh wind and to go to school, but...

This is not a book to enjoy much; we read it to gain the insight of hardships that people had to go through during this holocaust. Through this book she give us best view of the worst of the world. No one has ever benefitted from war; all it gives is pain and misery.
All this being said there is nothing to review the book, but accept it as written account of the vices of the war.

The worst question that seemed to have been slapped across my face was: Would this book have meant the same if Anne had survived the holocaust and lived to become old? Would it have been famous as it is now?
Well she didn’t survived and with her ended answer to this question and no one can bring her back.

This book was awful! I hated it and thats all i have to say about it.

A Força do Desejo

Além de ser mais uma das múltiplas histórias dramáticas que aconteceram durante o Holocausto, "O Diário de Anne Frank" é também um poderoso testemunho da Força do Desejo!
Anne Frank sonhara ser escritora e o que é facto é que o seu Diário foi publicado e lido por milhões.
Faleceu num campo de concentração, mas o seu Desejo foi de tal forma intenso, que lhe sobreviveu!

Of course I knew what was going to happen. We all did.

And yet, even when I wasn’t 20 pages through it, I already felt like crying.

And yet, even after looking some stuff up, I am still destroyed.

I need a moment to think about everything.

Allein der Umstand, dass ich seit dem 4. Dezember bis heute (18. März) gebraucht habe, mich zu einer Niederschrift meines Lese-Eindrucks zu entschließen, zeigt schon, wie schwer mir das fällt. Das Schicksal Anne Franks und der anderen "Hinterhausbewohner" überschattet jedes Nachdenken über das Gelesene. Ist es mir überhaupt möglich, zum Beispiel an formalsprachliche Kriterien oder an die schriftstellerischen Fähigkeiten der Autorin zu denken, wenn mir die besonderen historischen Bedingungen bei der Entstehung des Textes bewusst sind? Kann ich mich unter diesen Umständen objektiv äußern? Kann ich wirklich mit reinem Gewissen schreiben, dass ich den Text erstaunlich gut und stellenweise auch amüsant fand? Vielleicht entspringt die positive Gesamtbewertung einem Mitleids- und Sympathie-Bonus, vielleicht zeigt das Amüsement meine Empathielosigkeit ...

Die geschilderte Hinterhausgemeinschaft ist eine Zwangsgemeinschaft von Menschen. Menschen, die solidarisch sind und intrigieren, die streiten und sich versöhnen, die Großmut beweisen und spießige Engstirnigkeit. Die halt ihre Eigenheiten haben. Niemand wünscht sich, über so lange Zeit auf so kleinem Raum mit mehr oder weniger fremden Menschen zu leben. Alle sind sich der existenziellen Bedrohung bewusst. Und keiner kann ein Ende der Gefahren absehen. Diese Extremsituation hat natürlich massive Einflüsse auf die zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungen, die Moral, die Psyche. Trotz ihrer Jugend nimmt Anne Frank all das sehr genau wahr. Und sie kommt erstaunlich gut damit zurecht. Manchmal hatte ich den Eindruck, dass sie die typischen Probleme einer Heranwachsenden - die Beziehung zu Vater, Mutter, Schwester, Freund - mehr beschäftigen.

Bemerkenswert ist, wie genau sie das alles wahrnimmt und reflektiert. Und wie sie es auch sprachlich verarbeitet. Sie hatte Talent.

Wir können Anne Frank heute für dieses Tagebuch nur danken. Sie hätte allen Grund gehabt, sich bitter zu beklagen, diese Klage ihrem Tagebuch anzuvertrauen. Aber wenn man von den wenigen Reflexionen über die Außenwelt absieht, könnte ihr Tagebuch ein typisches Teenager-Tagebuch sein. Gerade weil sie so ein "Backfisch" war, so ein typischer Backfisch unter all diesen Umständen.

Dann enden die Eintragungen. Wir wissen, was passierte. So entfaltet das Werk seine Wirkung. Wer die Aufzeichnungen Anne Franks liest, wird sie nie vergessen. Und nicht zulassen, dass es eine Fortsetzung gibt.

"أننا يهود..مقيدون في مكان واحد دون حقوق و بآلاف الواجبات..يجب أن نتحلي بالشجاعة والصبر ونثق في الرب..يوما ما ستنتهي هذه الحرب...يوماً ما نستطيع أن نكون آدمين وليس فقط يهوداً.."

أن فرانك ..الفتاة اليهودية التي أطلق اسمها علي شوارع ومدارس في أركان العالم ..
آن فرانك.. الفتاة التي تُرجمت يومياتها إلي أكثر من ٥٥ لغة و بيع منها أكثر من ٢٠ مليون نسخة حول العالم....
آن فرانك..الفتاة التي ظلت مختبئة مع عائلتها و عائلة يهودية أخري لمدة سنتين في مكتب والدها في هولندا خوفاً من إعتقالهم علي يد الألمان أثناء الحرب العالمية الثانية...

بدأت آن كتابة يومياتها في ١٢ يونيو ١٩٤٢ يوم بلوغها سن الثالثة عشر وكتبت فيها لآخر مرة يوم ١ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ ...
في ٤ أغسطس ١٩٤٤ جاء ثلاث هولنديين في خدمة الشرطة الألمانية أمام بناية برينسنغراخت ٢٦٣ وهي البناية التي يزورها الآن سنوياً أكثر من ٦٠٠ ألف شخص..تم إعتقال جميع من في المنزل و نقلهم إلي معسكرات الإبادة في أوشفيتز حيث توفت والدة آن من الجوع والإنهاك و توفت آن وأختها متأثرين بمرض التيفود ودفنوا في المقابر الجماعية في بيرغن ..أما أوتو فرانك والد آن،الوحيد من المختبئين الذي نجا من معسكرات الإعتقال بعد تحرير أوشفيتز من قبل الجيش الروسي و هو الذي قام بنشر يوميات ابنته...

الصراحة الكتاب جاء أقل من توقعاتي بكتير..
كنت أتوقع إنها حتتكلم عن معسكرات اليهود و تحكي تفاصيل أكتر عن الحرب ولكن للأسف كل اليوميات كانت معظمها تدور حول حياتهم وقت الأختباء و المشاجرات العائلية التي كانت تحدث بينهم والتغذية وانشغالات كل فرد و كان يوجد بعض التفاصيل عن قصة حب عاشتها آن مع بيتر الذي يبلغ من العمر ١٦ عاماً وكان مختبئ معهم في نفس المنزل...

إسلوب البنت طبعا بالنسبة لسنها يعتبر كويس جداً و كان فعلاً ممكن تكون كاتبة أو صحافية زي ما هي كانت بتتمني...

"عندما أكتب أتخلص من كل شئ ..يتبخر حزني تتجدد شجاعتي ولكن هذا هو السؤال الأساسي هل أستطيع يوماً ما كتابة شئ قيم؟ هل أصبح يوما ما صحافية وكاتبة؟"

تعرض الكتاب للهجوم مشككاً في أصالته والبعض أتهم والدها إنه هو الذي كتب اليوميات بس أنا شوفت إن إسلوب الكتابة مناسب لفتاة في مثل هذه السن باستثناء بعض المقاطع اللي فعلاً حتحس إن مستحيل بنت عندها ١٤ سنة تكون كتبتها...

أشتهرت هذه المذكرات -في رأيي- ليس بسبب ما تحتويه من أحداث ولكن بسبب البنت نفسها و حبها للحياة و موهبتها في الكتابة التي جعلتها إلي يومنا هذا رمز لمعاناة اليهود في العصر النازي...

"الأمل يجعلنا نحيا ..يمدنا بالشجاعة ..يمدنا بالقوة لأننا نحتاج للشجاعة لتحمل القلق،الحرمان والمعاناة.."

This is a book that has been read so much and not much more can be said that hasn't been said already. It's a book that's not necessarily loved for its skill of writing, not for its entertainment value, not for its education about World War II, but for its historical context. The context that is within these pages show the inner thoughts of a young girl (ages 12-15) and her emotions, feelings and anxieties while living together with her family and others, hidden away for a little more than 2 years of her life.

Its historical context is what sets it apart from other histories of the time. Pages and pages of optimism create a sort of paradox of what's actually happening outside of the secret annex at 263 Prinsengracht throughout Europe.

As a 42 year old reading this completely for the first time, I actually find myself filled with awe at how such a young girl could deal with the daily anxieties of being the target of the ideology of a certain individual and political party at that time in history. The sadness one feels while she talks about a childhood friend of hers being taken by the Gestapo and assumed for dead and later learn that as of today (August 2022), that friend of hers Hanneli Pick-Goslar still lives and is 93, while Anne has been gone for 77 of those years.

This is a collection of moments, scribbled on pages that have outlasted many of us, cementing a yearning for peace and understanding which we still haven't grown as a society to implement and live by.

Edit October 2022: I read this a month prior to going to visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Netherlands and getting to actually see the space that she frequented along with her family and others -- I can say it was quite an experience. If you don't feel something while going up and down the narrow stairs and passageways, then you aren't getting it. You're not allowed to take photos inside and I think that's perfect - the memories will be there for a long time. That, in itself, is better than any photo you could take.

Para el año de 1944, en la reseña de Ana Frank,  las escrituras  en su diario, empieza a ser más  continua, y escribe con más detalle sobre la guerra, sobre el enamoramiento  que sentía por Peter Pels,  escribe con  ilusión  que tal vez en el mes de octubre ya  pueda volver a la escuela.


Ana es dramática, se victimiza con regularidad, se deprime  piensa que nadie la comprende. Igualmente es divertida y llorona, pero al mismo tiempo  reflexiva y sensata. Ella misma identifica  la existencia de dos Anas,  la que todos conocen y la que habita en lo más hondo de su existencia, es tan detallista que indica hasta  la lista y las características  de sus compañeros de colegio.


En la medida que escribe a lo largo de esos dos años, señala que desea ser periodista o escritora  y desea  utilizar su diario, como testimonio de lo sucedido en la guerra.


Las relaciones con su madre, son muy ásperas, discuten frecuentemente, e inclusive le pone sobrenombres para no decirle mamá. Siente un gran cariño y admiración a su padre, a quien afectuosamente le llama Pim, la convivencia con su hermana Margot, es moderada,  la describe como una persona  vacía, fría y con falta de carácter.


En ese cuarto que ella denominaba la casa de atrás, transcurrieron  dos años,  ayudados por los trabajadores  de la oficina, hasta que fueron denunciados y arrestados.


Con el nombre  El diario de Ana Frank,   se reconoce la publicación de los diarios personales escritos por Ana Frank  , escritos entre el  12 de junio de 1942 y el 1 de agosto de 1944 para  un total de tres cuadernos,  Igualmente escribió varios cuentos los cuales están protegidos en el Ana Frank Zentrum de Berlín.


Ana y su hermana  mayor  Margot,   permanecieron  recluidas  por un tiempo en los campos de concentración de Westerbork  en Holanda y Auschwitzen Polonia, posteriormente fueron deportadas   al  campo nazi  Bergen-Belsen en Alemania, donde las dos fallecieron, durante la epidemia de tifus,  originado por la ausencia de higiene en el lugar de confinamiento, entre febrero y marzo de 1945.


Edith Holländer  Frank,  falleció por  agotamiento en el campo de concentración de Auschwitz-Birkenau, el 6 de enero de 1945,  Otto Heinrich Frank, fue el único sobreviviente  del holocausto, falleció  el 19 de Agosto de 1980


El jefe de la familia,  Hermann Van Pels,  fue llevado el 6 de septiembre de 1944 a las cámaras de gas de Auschwitz, donde deja de existir una  semanas más tarde. Auguste Van Pels , muere  en el mes de abril de 1945,  en el campo de concentración de Theresienstadt y Peter Van Pels  falleció  5 de mayo de 1945, tres días antes de la liberación. En cuanto a Fritz Pfeffer, murió en el campo de concentración de Neuengamme, el 20 de diciembre de 1944.


El diario se publica por primera vez bajo el título Het Achterhuis  “La casa de atrás”,  en Holanda en el año de 1947, por la  casa editora  Contact.  En  el mes abril de 1955,  se distribuye la primera versión del libro en  español con el nombre Las habitaciones de atrás, a través de la editorial Garbo, Barcelona.

Me ha gustado mucho

Que lo disfrutes, si lo estás leyendo

Written with a ball-point pen 'during Nazi occupation' but ballpoint pens first went on sale in 1945. A big maudlin waste-of-time from the people who brought you Schindler's List.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballpoin...