ANNE FRANK AND HER ROLE IN HISTORY 2
Anne Frank and Her Role in History
Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl posthumously renowned for her diary, “The
Diary of a Young Girl”. Later published as a novel, the diary documents the two years she
spent hiding with her family during the Holocaust. This writeup gives a brief account of Anne
Frank’s life and further illustrates the significant role she plays in history.
Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Germany to Otto and Edith Frank. In 1933, Adolf
Hitler rose to power and started anti-Jewish campaigns throughout Germany. In a bid to
protect his Jewish family, Otto moved them to Netherlands where Anne started school in
1935. Germany occupied Holland in 1942 and began deporting Jews to extermination camps
in Austria and Poland. Consequently, Anne, her sister Margot and six friends went into
hiding in an apartment behind her father’s business store. In her diary, she details the two
years she spent hiding in the Secret Annex. However, in 1944, German police discovered
their hideout and expelled them to Westerbork and later on, to the Auschwitz extermination
camp in Poland. In 1945, Anne died of typhus while in captivity, leaving her father as the
only survivor.
The legacy left by the fifteen-year-old girl makes her an important figure in global
history. Through her carefully penned dairy, she gave a first-hand narration of the events
surrounding the Holocaust and her family’s exile in Holland. Her chronology is famed as one
of the most reliable accounts of the Holocaust. Moreover, Anne’s story demonstrates the
strength of the human spirit and the power of hope. Despite her traumatic and dreadful
experiences during their hiding in Amsterdam, she still hoped to achieve her dream (of
becoming a journalist) and later prosper in life.
Concisely, Anne Frank’s account of the Holocaust left an indelible mark in
contemporary history. She plays an indispensable role in giving a human face to the untold
