2. Annelies Marie Frank was born on June 12,1929 in Frankfurt Germany. She was the second daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank-Hollander. She also had an older sister, Margot Frank.
3. Four years after Anne was born, the election held in Frankfurt for the municipal council, which is where Adolf Hitler won. Anne’s parents were worried, this resulting in Anne and her family moving to Amsterdam, where they were safe for the while. In 1939, Anne’s grandmother came to live with the Franks, and remained with them until her death in January 1942.
4. During their time in Amsterdam, Anne was enrolled in a Montessori. While Margot was enrolled in a public school. Anne dreamed of becoming an actress. She loved watching movies, but the Dutch Jews were forbidden access to movie theaters. Anne was outspoken, energetic, and extroverted
5. In Amsterdam Anne’s father, Otto, manages to set up a business. Otto works hard on his business and Edith takes care of the household. But then World War 2 breaks out. On 10 May 1940, Germany invades the Netherlands. The Frank family is in danger once more.
6. For her 13th birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-green plaid cloth and with a small lock on the front, Anne decided she would use it as a diary,and began writing in it almost immediately. Although many of her entries were of her life, she also discusses some changes in the Netherlands since the German occupation.
7. In July 1942, when Anne’s older sister Margot is called up to be sent to a German labor, Anne’s parents decide that the dangers have become too great. Anne was told by her father that the family would go into hiding in rooms above and behind the company's premises. On Monday morning on July 6, 1942, the family moved into the hiding place.
8. When the Frank family moved into the Secret Annex, there were four other Jews with them. On 13 July 1942, the Franks were joined by the van Pels family: Herman and Auguste van Pels with their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer. Also, four of Otto’s employees help them too. With everyone living in constant fear of discovery, it was certainly not easy for eight people to live in such close quarters. Otto and his four helpers.
9. Before too long, the entrance to the Secret Annex is concealed behind a movable bookcase. The people in hiding have to stay indoors around the clock. They must also be extremely quiet during the day when people are at work in the warehouse downstairs. Because the waste pipes for the toilet run right through the warehouse, the toilet is flushed as little as possible.
10. Anne wrote of her pleasure at having new people to talk to, but tensions quickly developed within the group forced to live in such confined conditions. Anne Frank formed a close bond with each of the helpers. Most of Anne's time was spent reading and studying, and she regularly wrote and edited her diary entries. In addition, she often wrote about her feelings, beliefs and ambitions.
11. On the morning of August 4 1944, everyone in the annex is arrested. Someone has betrayed them. The Franks, van Pelses and Pfeffer were taken to the Gestapo headquarters where they were held overnight. On August 8, 1944, the eight people in hiding are taken to Westerbork by passenger train. Where they had to work all day breaking up old batteries.
12. On September 2, 1944, the names of prisoners who must leave to Auschwitz the following day are read aloud. Included among the 1019 names are those of the eight people of the Secret Annex. In Auschwitz, the men and women are separated. The Nazi's doctors decide which prisoners will be killed immediately. Anne along with Margot and Edith were separated from Otto, with Anne assuming he was killed immediately after arrival.
13. In Auschwitz Anne is striped of her clothing, forced to haul rocks, and had to have her head shaved. Disease was rampant and before long, Anne's skin became badly infected by scabies. She and Margot were moved in and infirmary, which was filled with constant darkness. Edith Frank stopped eating, saving every morsel of food for her daughters and passing her rations to them, through a hole she made at the bottom of the infirmary wall.
14. On October 28, selections began for women to be relocated to Bergen-Belsen. Among the 8,000 women, Anne, Margot and Auguste van Pels were transported. Edith Frank was left behind and later died from starvation. Anne was briefly reunited with two friends, Hanneli Goslar and Nanette Blitz. Goslar noted Auguste van Pels was with Anne and Margot Frank, and was caring for Margot, who was severely ill.
15. In March 1945, a typhus epidemic spread through the camp and killed approximately 17,000 prisoners. Witnesses later testified Margot fell from her bunk in her weakened state and was killed by the shock, and a few days later Anne died. although the exact dates were not recorded. After liberation, the camp was burned in an effort to prevent further spread of disease, and Anne and Margot were buried in a mass grave, the exact whereabouts of which is unknown. A memorial for Anne and Margot Frank.
16. Otto Frank survived his internment in Auschwitz. After the war ended, he returned to Amsterdam where he was sheltered by Jan and Miep Gies, as he attempted to locate his family. He learned of the death of his wife, Edith, in Auschwitz, but he remained hopeful that his daughters had survived. After several weeks, he discovered Margot and Anne had also died
17. Today, Anne Frank’s Diary has been published into a book, in many different languages. Otto Frank later commented that he had not realized Anne had kept such an accurate and well-written record of their time in hiding. In his memoir he described the painful process of reading the diary, recognizing the events described.
18. The house of those eight people in the Secret Annex, now serves as a museum in Amsterdam. The Anne Frank House opened on 3 May 1960. It consists of the Opekta warehouse and offices and the Achterhuis, all unfurnished so that visitors can walk freely through the rooms.
