The Diary of a Young Girl facts for kids
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1948 first edition
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| Author | Anne Frank |
|---|---|
| Original title | Het Achterhuis (The Annex) |
| Translator | B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday |
| Cover artist | Helmut Salden |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Language | Dutch |
| Subject |
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| Genre | Autobiography, Coming of Age, Jewish literature |
| Publisher | Contact Publishing |
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Publication date
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25 June 1947 |
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Published in English
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1952 |
| Awards | Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century |
| OCLC | 1432483 |
| 949.207 | |
| LC Class | DS135.N6 |
The Diary of a Young Girl is a famous diary written by Anne Frank. She wrote it in Dutch while hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Anne started writing in 1942, talking to an imaginary friend in her diary.
She and her family hid for two years in the Netherlands to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Sadly, they were found in 1944. Anne Frank later died from a sickness called typhus in a place called Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
After the war, Anne's father, Otto Frank, found the diary. He was the only one in their family who survived. The diary has now been printed in over 60 languages. It is seen as a very important book about war. A person named Judith Jones, who worked with cookbooks, helped save the diary from being thrown away.
The diary was first published in Amsterdam in 1947. It was called Het Achterhuis, which means The Annex. When it was translated into English in 1952, it became very well-known. A play and a movie were made based on the diary. The play even won a special award called the Pulitzer Prize in 1956. The book is on many lists of the best books from the 1900s. It talks about sharing, being selfish, and the feelings of growing up.
Contents
Anne Frank's Story and Her Diary
On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank received a blank diary for her 13th birthday. She had picked out the red, checkered book with her father the day before. Anne wrote her first note in it, hoping she could share everything with her diary. She wanted it to be a great comfort to her.
Going into Hiding
Soon after Anne's birthday, her older sister Margot Frank was told to report to a Nazi work camp. This was a very dangerous order for Jewish people. So, on July 6, 1942, Anne, Margot, and their parents, Otto Frank and Edith Frank, went into hiding.
They were later joined by Otto's business partner, Hermann van Pels, his wife Auguste van Pels, and their son Peter van Pels. Four months later, a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer also joined them. In the published diary, the Van Pelses are called the Van Daans, and Fritz Pfeffer is called Albert Dussel.
Their hiding place was in secret rooms at the back of Otto's company building in Amsterdam. These rooms were hidden behind a movable bookcase. Otto Frank's trusted helpers kept them safe for two years and one month.
Discovery and Aftermath
On August 4, 1944, the hiding place was discovered. The eight people were sent to Nazi concentration camps. It was long thought they were betrayed. However, some believe their discovery might have been by accident, perhaps during a police search for "ration fraud."
Only Otto Frank survived the war. Anne was 15 years old when she died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The exact date of her death is not known. It is thought to be in late February or early March 1945. British soldiers freed the prisoners there on April 15, 1945.
How the Diary Was Found
Anne wrote her diary in three different notebooks. The first book covers June 1942 to December 1942. There is a gap in her writing from December 1942 to December 1943. This part of her diary was likely lost after her family was arrested. However, Anne had rewritten some of her diary, so this missing time is covered in her rewritten version. The last book has entries from April 1944 to August 1944, just three days before her arrest.
After the family was arrested, two of Otto Frank's helpers, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, found Anne's loose diary pages. They were scattered on the floor of the hiding place. Miep Gies kept the papers safe. After the war, when Anne's death was confirmed, Miep gave the diary to Otto Frank.
How Anne Wrote Her Diary
Anne did not write her diary like a typical "Dear Diary" book. Instead, she named her diary "Kitty." Almost all of her entries are written as letters to Kitty. She used different names for the people hiding with her in the first part of her diary. These names might have come from characters in popular Dutch books.
Anne's Dream to Be a Writer
Anne had a dream of becoming a writer. On March 29, 1944, she heard a radio broadcast from a Dutch minister. He asked people to save "ordinary documents" like diaries and letters. He wanted them to be a record of what civilians suffered during the Nazi occupation.
This inspired Anne to start rewriting her diary. She wanted it to be read by others in the future. She made her entries longer, explained things more clearly, and made sure they all sounded like letters to Kitty. She also made a list of fake names for the people in the annex. She removed parts she thought might not be interesting or were too personal for others to read. By the time she started her second diary book, she was only writing to Kitty.
Publishing the Diary in English
In 1950, the diary was first translated into English. However, that version was never published. Later, Barbara Mooyaart-Doubleday translated it.
A woman named Judith Jones, who worked for a publisher called Doubleday, found Anne's diary. She pulled it from a pile of books that other publishers had rejected. Jones saw a photo of Anne on the cover of a French version of the book. She read the whole diary in one day. She told her boss, "We have to publish this book." She felt it would be very important in America.
The book came out in the United States and the United Kingdom in 1952. It quickly became a best-seller. Eleanor Roosevelt, a famous American figure, wrote the introduction for the English version.
Later, in 1989, a new English edition was published. It included different versions of Anne's writing. In 1995, another new translation was made.
Translations into Other Languages
The diary was translated into German and French in 1950. It appeared in English in 1952. It has also been translated into Chinese. As of 2019, the Anne Frank House website says the diary has been translated into over 70 languages.
Related pages
- , Jon Blair, 1995. (DVD)
Images for kids
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Stage set for the 2014 theatre production Anne at Theater Amsterdam, with the Secret Annex re-constructed on the right.
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Facsimile of the diary of Anne Frank on display at the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin, Germany
See also
In Spanish: Diario de Ana Frank para niños
