Anne Frank
Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who became world-famous thanks to the diary she wrote during the Second World War, while she was in hiding in the Achterhuis (the Annex) on Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.
Person
Annelies Marie (Anne) Frank was born on 12 June 1929, in the Germany city Frankfurt am Main.[1] Anne was the second child of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer and was preceded by Margot. Like her sister Margot, Anne was born in the clinic of the Vaterländische Frauenverein.[2] She was 54 centimetres long and weighed 8¼ pounds.[3] A clinic register indicates that 'Saugling' Frank was a 'Junge' (boy) and that Anne remained at the clinic with Edith for twelve days after the birth.[4] According to maid Käthi Stilgenbauer, the obstetrician was Professor Traugott.[5]
After her parents' decision to leave Germany, Anne initially lived with her mother and Margot with her grandmother in Aachen. Margot moved permanently to Amsterdam in December 1933; Anne had to wait until February 1934. From April 1934 to July 1935 she went to the kindergarten class at the 6th Montessori school. In August 1935 Anne went to the first grade of said school. After the sixth grade she was supposed to stay at the school for a seventh year, but due to educational segregation this was not possible. She was accepted at the Jewish Lyceum, and so went to secondary school after all. Anne described her classmates and various incidents at the Jewish Lyceum in her diary and Verhaaltjesboek (Book of tales). Anne's health was not very good. She was often ill and couldn't take part in gymnastics because her arms and legs dislocated easily. This also affected her when she wanted to do gymnastics in the Secret Annex.
Anne was the only person who documented the hiding period in the Secret Annex extensively. Only Otto Frank and Miep Gies have added to and corrected this information. This means that everything we know about the hiding period is highly coloured by Anne's perception. Margot also kept a diary, but it has not survived.
After the arrest on 4 August 1944, Anne ended up in Auschwitz via Westerbork. For the first eight weeks Anne was with her mother and Margot. In late October or early November the girls were put on a transport to Germany and ended up in Bergen Belsen. Like Margot, Anne contracted typhus and died in February 1945, shortly after her sister, at the age of 15.[6]
Footnotes
- ^ Standesamt Frankfurt am Main, Geboorteakte nr. 484, 17 juni 1929.
- ^ Is is now called Krankenhaus Maingau vom Roten Kreuz. In 1890 the 'Vaterländische Frauenverein vom Roten Kreuz' opened the Maingau-Krankenhaus here. See: Geschichte Frankfurter Rot-Kreiuz Kliniken e.V..
- ^ Anne Frank Stichting, Anne Frank Collectie, reg. code A_AFrank_III_027: Fotoalbum met foto's gemaakt tussen 1929 en 1942.
- ^ Research Von Wolzogen voor: Jürgen Steen, Wolf von Wolzogen, Anne aus Frankfurt. Leben und Lebenswelt Anne Franks, Frankfurt am Main: Historisches Museum, 1990, Historisches Museum Frankfurt am Main, 2.4.1./1. Volgens de notatie van Von Wolzogen komt dit uit het 'Soc.Druck.-Archiv'. Volgens H.P. Dieterich van 'Societäts Verlag' is alle archief in WO2 verwoest (email 17 november 2009). Hij verwijst naar het archief van de kliniek, maar daarvoor geldt hetzelfde.
- ^ Ernst Schnabel, Anne Frank. Spur eines Kindes, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 1958, p. 15. Dit moet ongetwijfeld zijn professor Traugott, gynaecoloog en verloskundige, die ook bij de geboorte van Margot was. Von Wolzogen noemt ook Traugott (zie noot 4).
- ^ Literature: Mirjam Pressler, The story of Anne Frank, London: MacMillan Children's Books, 1999; Carol Ann Lee, Roses from the earth: the biography of Anne Frank, London : Viking, 1999; Francine Prose, Anne Frank: the book, the life, the afterlife, New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2009; Hans Ulrich, Who was Anne Frank? Her life, the Annex and her death: a short biography, Laren: Verbum, 2010; Melissa Müller, Anne Frank: the biography, upd. and exp. ed., London: Bloomsbury, 2013; Aukje Vergeest, Anne Frank in the Secret Annexe: who was who?, Amsterdam: Anne Frank House, 2015; David Barnouw, Frank, Annelies Marie, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland, 2018.