Essay: Lessons to learn from Anne Frank’s life
On June 12, 1942, Annelies Marie Frank was given a diary for her thirteenth birthday. It was a gift she really wanted and her parents let her pick one out herself. Like all tweens, she must have dawdled before settling on a red-and-white chequered notebook, words from which would go on to become part of one of the most inspiring books in the world.
The first words she wrote in the diary were telling: “I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.”
Anne and her family had fled Germany after the Nazis seized power in 1933 and resettled in the Netherlands. The Germans occupied Amsterdam in May 1940, and two years later began rounding up Jews and deporting them to concentration camps.
Amidst the turmoil, Anne lived the life of a regular almost-teen – going to school, hanging out with friends, and learning to navigate life. The first entry in her diary was short; the real confiding starting two days after her birthday. She wrote in Dutch, occasionally using German or English words, and addressed her diary as Kitty. The name was drawn from a series of books by Dutch author Cissy van Marxveldt about Joop, a girl who had adventures with her group of friends, which included the “bright”, “cheerful”, and “funny” Kitty Francken.
Things seemed under control to Anne when she wrote to “Dearest Kitty”, but nothing was right in the real world.
In July 1942, Anne, her sister, Margot, her mother, Edith, and her father, Otto, were forced to go into hiding in a secret attic apartment behind the office of their family-owned business at 263 Prinsengracht Street. The annex would eventually hide four Dutch Jews as well.
“The fact that we can never go outside bothers me more than I can say, and then I’m really afraid that we’ll be discovered and shot, not a very nice prospect, needless to say,” Anne wrote to Kitty not long after.
For two years, between June 1942 to August 1944, Anne regularly penned down what she saw happening around her, juxtaposing the deplorable events with her feelings and thoughts. Her work, regarded as the most famous personal account of the Holocaust, has since been dramatised into a play and a movie.
Millions of people have read Diary of a Young Girl since it was first published in 1947. The candid account, simultaneously sad, funny, beautiful, thought-provoking, and joyous, has been translated into more than 70 languages.
The diary tragically stopped suddenly in August 1944, when Anne and her family were betrayed, arrested by the Gestapo, and sent to Auschwitz. In November 1944, Anne and Margot were transferred to Bergen-Belsen where they died (probably of typhus) in 1945. Anne was 15, a child who tragically never realised her dream – and promise – of becoming a writer. But her diary made sure that she was known the world over for her writing.
“Kitty” served as friend and comfort, a platform for the 13-year-old girl to explore her tempestuous emotions in a time and place of unbelievable stress, anxiety, and terror.
In today’s fractured world, in a time of anxiety, uncertainty, and hate, there are many lessons the world can learn from the effervescent teenager who loved ice-skating, wrote stories, trained her inner “chatterbox” to remain still and silent from 8 am to 5 pm each workday, and found her own self even as she was confined to 450-square feet with seven other people.
Her diary, which revealed her new life and constant fear, her hopes and disappointments, and her anger and aspirations, offers numerous lessons that remain relevant, every day and especially on Anne Frank Day.
Don’t compromise on your dreams
Anne and her family were forced to leave everything and everyone they knew — their home, life, friends, and community, only to make their home behind a wall. The secret annex or achterhuis (Dutch for “back house”) was the rear extension of 263 Prinsengracht Street. Concealed from view by houses on all four sides of a quadrangle, the cloister must have seemed oppressive and stifling to a young girl and her dreams. “It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality,” Anne wrote in her diary, adding: “It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical.” The next moment, however, she revealed why she wouldn’t let go of her dreams. “Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”
Own your opinions
Anne was very critical of the fact that she was “treated like children when it comes to external matters” as “she felt that “inwardly, we’re much older than other girls our age.” She was vocal about the fact that despite not being “allowed to have any opinions”, everyone had a right to one. “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but it doesn’t stop you having your own opinion. Even if people are still very young, they shouldn’t be prevented from saying what they think,” the 13-year-old wrote. Another time, she wrote, “I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.”
Trust your own potential
Anne, who wanted to become a writer when she grew up, found writing in a diary a strange experience. “Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing,” she wrote. But she believed that she – and everyone in the world – had their own part to play. “Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” She also warned that true happiness could not be found by “taking the easy way out”. “Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction,” she wrote.
Look for the silver lining
Even in hiding, Anne looked not at the ground, bit at the sky. She wrote that she had often been down in the dumps, but never desperate. “I look upon our life in hiding as an interesting adventure, full of danger and romance, and every privation as an amusing addition to my diary.” She believed that her experiences in the annex were a good beginning to an interesting life, which is “the reason – the only reason – why I have to laugh at the humorous side of the most dangerous moments”. “I’m young and have many hidden qualities; I’m young and strong and living through a big adventure; I’m right in the middle of it and can’t spend all day complaining because it’s impossible to have any fun! I’m blessed with many things: happiness, a cheerful disposition and strength. Every day I feel myself maturing, I feel liberation drawing near, I feel the beauty of nature and the goodness of the people around me. Every day I think what a fascinating and amusing adventure this is! With all that, why should I despair?”
Find happiness within
At a time when Anne and her family had to subsist on the bare minimum, she realised that happiness did not depend on material things; it was contingent on your own way of looking at things. “I looked out of the open window, letting my eyes roam over a large part of Amsterdam, over the rooftops and on to the horizon, a strip of blue so pale it was almost invisible. ‘As long as this exists’, I thought, ‘this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?’,” she wrote. Anne believed that the best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy was to go outside, “somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be”. In her own words: “Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.” And that “whoever is happy will make others happy.”
In The Diary of Anne Frank, the young Jewish diarist also made a case for paying it forward. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world,” she wrote. The young girl believed that no one had ever become poor “by giving” and that “what is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.”
Anne’s diary chronicles her time hiding in the secret annex with her family and other Jews even as it showcases a teenager finding her voice and coming to terms with the young woman she is becoming. She and her family were among the six million Jews systematically exterminated by the German Nazi regime during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators wiped out around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population in one of the worst genocides the world has seen.
In the face of hatred and evil, Anne’s words continue to offer hope. To learn from the horrors of the past, eradicate fear and bias, act against unfairness and injustice, and accept each other for who we truly are.
Her words seem even more relevant in the world we inhabit today. It’s time to remember that, “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.
On June 12, 1942, Annelies Marie Frank was given a diary for her thirteenth birthday. It was a gift she really wanted and her parents let her pick one out herself. Like all tweens, she must have dawdled before settling on a red-and-white chequered notebook, words from which would go on to become part of one of the most inspiring books in the world.
The first words she wrote in the diary were telling: “I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I have never been able to do in anyone before, and I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.”
Anne and her family had fled Germany after the Nazis seized power in 1933 and resettled in the Netherlands. The Germans occupied Amsterdam in May 1940, and two years later began rounding up Jews and deporting them to concentration camps.
Amidst the turmoil, Anne lived the life of a regular almost-teen – going to school, hanging out with friends, and learning to navigate life. The first entry in her diary was short; the real confiding starting two days after her birthday. She wrote in Dutch, occasionally using German or English words, and addressed her diary as Kitty. The name was drawn from a series of books by Dutch author Cissy van Marxveldt about Joop, a girl who had adventures with her group of friends, which included the “bright”, “cheerful”, and “funny” Kitty Francken.
Things seemed under control to Anne when she wrote to “Dearest Kitty”, but nothing was right in the real world.
In July 1942, Anne, her sister, Margot, her mother, Edith, and her father, Otto, were forced to go into hiding in a secret attic apartment behind the office of their family-owned business at 263 Prinsengracht Street. The annex would eventually hide four Dutch Jews as well.
“The fact that we can never go outside bothers me more than I can say, and then I’m really afraid that we’ll be discovered and shot, not a very nice prospect, needless to say,” Anne wrote to Kitty not long after.
For two years, between June 1942 to August 1944, Anne regularly penned down what she saw happening around her, juxtaposing the deplorable events with her feelings and thoughts. Her work, regarded as the most famous personal account of the Holocaust, has since been dramatised into a play and a movie.
Millions of people have read Diary of a Young Girl since it was first published in 1947. The candid account, simultaneously sad, funny, beautiful, thought-provoking, and joyous, has been translated into more than 70 languages.
The diary tragically stopped suddenly in August 1944, when Anne and her family were betrayed, arrested by the Gestapo, and sent to Auschwitz. In November 1944, Anne and Margot were transferred to Bergen-Belsen where they died (probably of typhus) in 1945. Anne was 15, a child who tragically never realised her dream – and promise – of becoming a writer. But her diary made sure that she was known the world over for her writing.
“Kitty” served as friend and comfort, a platform for the 13-year-old girl to explore her tempestuous emotions in a time and place of unbelievable stress, anxiety, and terror.
In today’s fractured world, in a time of anxiety, uncertainty, and hate, there are many lessons the world can learn from the effervescent teenager who loved ice-skating, wrote stories, trained her inner “chatterbox” to remain still and silent from 8 am to 5 pm each workday, and found her own self even as she was confined to 450-square feet with seven other people.
Her diary, which revealed her new life and constant fear, her hopes and disappointments, and her anger and aspirations, offers numerous lessons that remain relevant, every day and especially on Anne Frank Day.
Don’t compromise on your dreams
Anne and her family were forced to leave everything and everyone they knew — their home, life, friends, and community, only to make their home behind a wall. The secret annex or achterhuis (Dutch for “back house”) was the rear extension of 263 Prinsengracht Street. Concealed from view by houses on all four sides of a quadrangle, the cloister must have seemed oppressive and stifling to a young girl and her dreams. “It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality,” Anne wrote in her diary, adding: “It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical.” The next moment, however, she revealed why she wouldn’t let go of her dreams. “Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”
Own your opinions
Anne was very critical of the fact that she was “treated like children when it comes to external matters” as “she felt that “inwardly, we’re much older than other girls our age.” She was vocal about the fact that despite not being “allowed to have any opinions”, everyone had a right to one. “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but it doesn’t stop you having your own opinion. Even if people are still very young, they shouldn’t be prevented from saying what they think,” the 13-year-old wrote. Another time, she wrote, “I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.”
Trust your own potential
Anne, who wanted to become a writer when she grew up, found writing in a diary a strange experience. “Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing,” she wrote. But she believed that she – and everyone in the world – had their own part to play. “Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” She also warned that true happiness could not be found by “taking the easy way out”. “Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction,” she wrote.
Look for the silver lining
Even in hiding, Anne looked not at the ground, bit at the sky. She wrote that she had often been down in the dumps, but never desperate. “I look upon our life in hiding as an interesting adventure, full of danger and romance, and every privation as an amusing addition to my diary.” She believed that her experiences in the annex were a good beginning to an interesting life, which is “the reason – the only reason – why I have to laugh at the humorous side of the most dangerous moments”. “I’m young and have many hidden qualities; I’m young and strong and living through a big adventure; I’m right in the middle of it and can’t spend all day complaining because it’s impossible to have any fun! I’m blessed with many things: happiness, a cheerful disposition and strength. Every day I feel myself maturing, I feel liberation drawing near, I feel the beauty of nature and the goodness of the people around me. Every day I think what a fascinating and amusing adventure this is! With all that, why should I despair?”
Find happiness within
At a time when Anne and her family had to subsist on the bare minimum, she realised that happiness did not depend on material things; it was contingent on your own way of looking at things. “I looked out of the open window, letting my eyes roam over a large part of Amsterdam, over the rooftops and on to the horizon, a strip of blue so pale it was almost invisible. ‘As long as this exists’, I thought, ‘this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?’,” she wrote. Anne believed that the best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy was to go outside, “somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be”. In her own words: “Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your own heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there, as long as you live, to make you happy again.” And that “whoever is happy will make others happy.”
In The Diary of Anne Frank, the young Jewish diarist also made a case for paying it forward. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world,” she wrote. The young girl believed that no one had ever become poor “by giving” and that “what is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.”
Anne’s diary chronicles her time hiding in the secret annex with her family and other Jews even as it showcases a teenager finding her voice and coming to terms with the young woman she is becoming. She and her family were among the six million Jews systematically exterminated by the German Nazi regime during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators wiped out around two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population in one of the worst genocides the world has seen.
In the face of hatred and evil, Anne’s words continue to offer hope. To learn from the horrors of the past, eradicate fear and bias, act against unfairness and injustice, and accept each other for who we truly are.
Her words seem even more relevant in the world we inhabit today. It’s time to remember that, “In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.
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