Born on the 12th of June, 1929, little did Anne Frank know, that one day, her personal diary would, end up being among, the greatest pieces of historical literature, ever.
Anne FrankOn her 13th Birthday, a young, German born, Jewish girl; residing in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during the German occupation; Anne Frank, receives a diary. Thus she begins to chronicle her life experiences, from the 12th of June, 1942; exactly 73 years ago today; until she was arrested, along with her family and friends in hiding, by the SS (Nazi’s), in August 1944. After being interrogated, and suffering in concentration camps, first separated from her father, and later from her mother, Anne Frank, died, aged 15, in February 1945. The exact date of Anne’s, and her elder sister Margot’s, death, haven’t been recorded.

The diary was found by Miep Gies, who later gave it to Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, who luckily had survived the Auschwitz. Anne’s mother, Edith Frank-Holländer, had died, sometime after being separated from her two daughters. Otto Frank had no idea, about such a well kept diary, written by his young daughter. He gave it to Dutch historian, Annie Romein-Verschoor. Impressed as to how well it was written, she tried to get it published, unsuccessfully. Romein-Verschoor, then gave it to her husband, a journalist, Jan Romein, who wrote an article about it, which was published in a Dutch newspaper, under the heading, Kinderstem (A Child’s Voice). Soon this article attracted attention of publishers, and the diary was finally published in the Netherlands as Het Achterhuis in 1947. In 1952, the English translation was published. And the rest is history.

I had known about this book, ever since I was kid, in the 1980’s. But I read this book, the English translation of course (the diary was originally written in Dutch), only somewhere in the early 90’s, over 20 years ago now. Pure innocence, natural, realistic, honest and personal, Anne Frank’s Diary, touched me deeply. It’s one of the most inspiring non-fiction books I’ve ever read. Today among the greatest pieces of literature, Anne Frank’s Diary, is no doubt among my favourite, and one of the best, non-fiction books, I have in my personal library.

It’s really tragic, not just what happened to Anne Frank, but to over 6 million Jews, that were tortured and killed, during the holocaust, under the tyrannical dictator, Adolf Hitler’s, Nazi regime, during the second World War. Not to forget the non-Jewish victims, including, gypsies, communists, homosexuals, Polish people, Soviet Union – prisoners of war, the mentally and physically disabled, et al. One of the most inhumane periods in modern history.

Fortunately, Anne Frank’s diary, didn’t come into the hands of the Nazi’s. They’d have destroyed it, for certain. And thanks to the survival of this, beautifully penned down, diary; she lives on. And the world shall never forget the brutality, the victims of the holocaust, faced.

Bookish Nuwan (Literature & History)
Nuwan Sen’s Historical Sense
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