Anne Frank: Girl who etched the horrors of Holocaust in the world’s memory

Born Annelies Marie Frank on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany, Anne Frank is one of the most famous Holocaust victims who is known for documenting her life in a diary, which now is as much a part of the heritage as it was hers. Her harrowing experience of the time when she went into hiding with her family to keep safe from Nazi persecution is the reflection of all the atrocities that Jewish Germans were made to go through. 

The family hid in a secret attic behind the office of the family-owned business in Amsterdam, that Anne referred to as Secret Annex in her diary. This is when her alter-ego Kitty came to life through her diary. At the age of 13, Anne Frank eloquently wrote about her fears, hopes and experiences. So much so, that if she were alive, she would have gone to become one of the greatest writers in history. 

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The beginning of the end

Unfortunately, the Frank family was caught by the police and deported to Westerbork transit camp on August 8, 1944, and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau in German-occupied Poland on September 3, 1944. This, in a way, was the beginning of the end. Later, Anne Frank and her sister were transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in late October 1944. Soon after, Anne Frank died of typhus, followed by her sister’s demise.

While their mother couldn’t survive the war, her father Otto Frank lived long enough to publish her diary. 

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The vivid imagination of a young girl

Anne Frank’s diary is a collection of fairy tales, essays, and short stories along with the documentation of her time in the war. Although her name has become commercialised and the face of heritage and tourist attractions in present-day Amsterdam, her account in the diary continues to give a first-hand glimpse of the terrifying World War II. 

‘Where is Anne Frank’ dives into her subconscious through her diary and brings to the screen a story that could potentially change the perception of kids and adults towards life.