Lately i ve beenthinking about Ann Frank, anyone else?

[Bilboard]

Just that really, with the current clima i ve been thinking about them a lot. I remember reading her diary years ago. Her family along with another family had to live in hiding from the Nazis. They all( i think 7) lived in an attic, about 40sqm, for two years.
My thoughts keep going back to them, how did they manage? I definitly need to re read the book.
Anyone else?

[Vitaceae]

I've also been thinking about Anne Frank and her family recently. I read her diary when I was around 12 or 13, remember watching her father on Blue Peter too, and have visited the house where they hid in Amsterdam.

I suppose lockdown has led into thoughts of how other people have struggled in the past, through wars, or disease etc and how, although life is very different for us at the moment, it isn't anywhere near as bad for us as it was for them.

I've been thinking about rereading her diary. I read The Cut Out Girl by Bart van Es recently and that made me think about how Anne Frank's life could have turned out differently. There is a small connection between the two books in that someone, as an adult, recalled having been in the same class at school with Anne Frank 😢

[KonTikki]

I remember reading about a stage production of Anne Frank where the young actress playing her was pretty awful.
So much so that when the Germans came on stage searching for her, someone in the audience shouted "she's in the attic" !

Sorry - I'll get my coat 🤢

[ssd]

Dhs dad was in the army that liberated Belsen. He said you could smell it 5 miles away. Horrendous, doesn't bare thinking about.

[LittleCabbage]

From the extract linked to above by ViciousJackdaw. (Thank you, that was extremely interesting).

It is particularly tragic how close Anne and her sister were to being liberated. I will definitely re-read her diary with my children once they are old enough.

[ssd]

We visited her house in Amsterdam. Walking up the narrow wooden staircase is chilling, thinking how loud the nazi's heavy jack boats must have sounded up there in the attic. It's truly terrifying.
Thought provoking thread.

[Bilboard]

Thank you for suggestions, links and book recomendations, really need to get back into reading :0)

[Bigfishylittlefishy]

*privileged.

[Bigfishylittlefishy]

Loved reading AF as a child, she inspired me to write my own childhood diaries. Such a stunning writer, who also acknowledged herself she was more fortunate than others. I think we can read it and feel inspired by it, whilst also realising we are far more privilege (obviously).

[BarefootHippieChick]

I recently read the book for the first time as bought it for dd for school history lessons. It's an amazing book and the way it just ends is heartwrenching.

[midnightstar66]

@Pelleas thanks, tracked it down on YouTube will watch with DD later

[Pelleas]

I have often wondered what else Anne would have written had she survived.

[NewName54321]

Although a name we associate with events a long time ago, I always find it shocking that she was younger than the Queen, and could still be alive today had she survived. I remember watching her father on Blue Peter in the 1970s. It's still out there on YouTube if you search for it.

[Pelleas]

It was this adaptation, midnightstar

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_Anne_Frank_(2009_miniseries)

I don't have anything like Netflix so I don't know if it's available to watch anywhere.

[midnightstar66]

@Pelleas I'd be interested to see that. I suppose reading the diary alone you only get the teenage view, although it did seem he became increasingly unpleasant. I guess it's hardly surprising given the circumstances.

[Daffodil55]

@Pelleas

Yes that is so true. To have spent all that time in hiding then the tragic ending was so very sad.

[Pelleas]

we are all still millionaires and living in the lap of luxury compared to the likes of Anne Frank and her family

Yes. Yet, Anne often reminded herself while in hiding that she was well off compared to the millions who had been captured by the Nazis. It's humbling.

[Daffodil55]

Many of us are moaning about this and that during lockdown/isolation but come on, even those of us who may be struggling financially, we are all still millionaires and living in the lap of luxury compared to the likes of Anne Frank and her family. She was not the only one who had to hide in that way from the Nazis. Many people including small children hid in sewers too and in case anyone not aware, some parents had the horrendous dilemma of crying babies while in hiding so they chose to smother their babies to hopefully save the rest of the family.

Anne Frank wrote her diaries which survived, so we now have a book but thousands of similar stories never got to see the light of day.

If we break the rules of lockdown we are not going to be marched to some grey prison then shot or hanged.

[ellanwood]

@ProfessorSlocombe - great post. Yes, absolutely. Always.

[Pelleas]

How awful for Anne when they moved the obnoxious dentist in to her tiny room.

There was a BBC adaptation some years ago that presented the dentist in a more sympathetic light - showing how difficult it must have been for him to be parted from his wife (who was a Christian) - and his part ended with a touching scene of Anne trying to fasten her shoes with trembling hands when they were captured, and Dr Dussel kneeling down to help her.

In her diary, Anne was initially pleased that someone else would be taken in (and therefore saved) but it's understandable that the reality of a shy adolescent having to share her room with an impatient adult would soon become difficult.

[Cattenberg]

Yes, I’ve been thinking and reading about her too. I think about how she used to look out of the attic window, where she could get a glimpse of the sky, passing birds and a horse chestnut tree, and how much that view meant to her.

[midnightstar66]

I got it for dd10 to read not because it's in any way comparable but to consider how absolutely lucky we still are despite this situation. I enjoyed re reading as an adult too . How awful for Anne when they moved the obnoxious dentist in to her tiny room.

[ProfessorSlocombe]

One of the best comments on why we shouldn't blindly line up and parrot "it's the law" can be summed up:

The people hiding Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were obeying the law.

Please trust your conscience before you trust the law.

[LifeInTheFasterLane]

effingterrified OP specifically said she wasn't comparing their situations. YOU get a grip.

[ivykaty44]

effingterrified Do read what the op wrote before having your rant about comparing

[2bazookas]

Anybody with teens stuck at home, might give them Anne Frank's diary to read. Put current family/social frustrations and stress into perspective and open up some thoughtful discussions about everyone's feelings.