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Otto Frank and the publication of Anne's Fables and Short Stories

Otto Frank was actively involved in the publication of Anne's diary and her short stories.

Subject

Even before the publication of Het Achterhuis 'The Secret Annex', Otto Frank approached several publishers to publish Anne's short stories, which she had written while in hiding.

Anne started writing these stories in the summer of 1943:

'A break in the Secret Annex sketches. A few weeks ago I started writing a story, something I made up from beginning to end, and I've enjoyed it so much that the products of my pen are piling up.[1] The short stories are recorded in the diary, on loose sheets and in a cardboard notebook: Short stories, and events from the Secret Annex described by Anne Frank. Dedicated Thursday 2 September 1943.'[2]

Anne got the idea to publish them during the period in hiding: 'Dear Kitty, (…) I want to ask the magazine The Prince if they'll take one of my fairy tales, under a pseudonym of course. But up to now all my fairy tales have been too long, so I don't think I have much of a chance'.[3] Otto Frank related in 1959 that Anne asked Jo Kleiman to send the story Blurry the Explorer, among others, under the name of his daughter Corrie (a pseudonym for Jopie Kleiman). But Kleiman thought this was too dangerous. [4]

After Otto Frank retrieved his daughter's writings, he first had the short stories written out and translated to send to his family in autumn 1945. The first story is: Blurry, der Weltentdekker [sic], which is about a little bear.[5] Otto Frank wrote to his mother on 12 December 1945: 'Frl. Schütz wird Dir wohl eine Uebersetzung von Annes Märchen Eva's Traum senden, was sie mir im letzten Jahr zum Geburtstag gegeben hatte.'[6]

In the little story Why? Otto Frank recognised the influence of the letter he had sent her when she was 10 and which she had pasted in her diary, through the text: 'It will be a support to me for life.'[7] According to Otto Frank, the little story Give! was childishly idealistic, but typical of Anne. Following the example of her mother and grandmother, she used the oft-used phrase: 'No one has yet become poor from giving.'[8] Otto Frank found the story A Maths Lesson telling about Anne's psychology.[9]

On two occasions, Contact Publishers rejected the manuscript of the short stories.[10] Then Otto Frank tried in vain to interest other publishers.[11] Eventually, he and Contact came to an agreement. The publisher suggested editing the collection in such a way that Kaatje, judged to be less strong, would not be included. Moreover, the school memories were given a place in the back, mainly because of their importance for Anne's "psychology". In 1949. Contact nevertheless published Weet je nog? Verhalen en sprookjes ('Do You Remember? Fables and Short Stories').[12]
A wider selection of Anne's stories was also published by Contact in 1960: Tales from the House Behind[13] The publisher would have preferred a complete edition but understood that Otto Frank did not want the "weaker parts" published.[14]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 7 August 1943, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  2. ^ Omdat er geen dagboekaantekeningen van 6 december1942 tot 22 december 1943 in de A-versie zijn overgeleverd, is het niet duidelijk of Anne Frank in deze periode de verhaaltjes eerst in haar (tweede niet overgeleverde) dagboek heeft opgeschreven en wellicht later in het verhaaltjesboek in het net heeft overgeschreven.
  3. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 21 April 1944, in: The Collected Works.
  4. ^ Anne Frank Stichting (AFS), Anne Frank Collectie (AFC), Otto Frank Archief (OFA), reg. code OFA_101: Otto Frank aan Uitgeverij Contact / Gilles de Neve, 3 oktober 1959.
  5. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_072: Otto Frank aan Alice Frank-Stern, 30 september en 11 november 1945. 
  6. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_072: Otto Frank aan Alice Frank-Stern, 12 december 1945.
  7. ^ Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), Madison, WI, Goodrich/Hackett papers 1927-1961, Box no 2, correspondence 1952-1956: Brief Otto Frank aan Frances Goodrich en Albert Hacketts, 1 januari 1954.
  8. ^ WHS, Goodrich/Hackett papers 1927-1961, Box no 2, correspondence 1952-1956: Brief Otto Frank aan Frances Goodrich en Albert Hackett, 7 april 1954.
  9. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_101: Otto Frank aan Uitgeverij Contact, 5 juli 1949.  
  10. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_090: Uitgeverij Contact aan Otto Frank, 5 november 1946 en 17 januari 1948.
  11. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_090: Brief van De Bezige Bij aan Otto Frank,16 januari 1946 ('te zwak, te onrijp en te weinig evenwichtig'); Brief Otto Frank aan uitgeverij de Telg, 4 december 1946; Briefkaart van de Arbeiderspers aan Otto Frank, 22 december 1947; Brief van uitgeverij de Driehoek aan Otto Frank, 28 februari 1948.
  12. ^ Anne Frank, Weet je nog? Verhalen en sprookjes. Amsterdam/Antwerpen: Contact, 1949.
  13. ^ Anne Frank, Verhalen rondom het Achterhuis, Amsterdam/ Antwerpen: Contact, 1960. 
  14. ^ AFS, AFC, reg. code OFA_101: Uitgeverij Contact aan Otto Frank, 13 oktober 1959.