MONDAY, 26TH FEBRUARY 2024
RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: WHY WAS ANNE FRANK FORCED TO GO INTO
HIDING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Who is Anne Frank?
- Identify the factors that led Anne Frank to go into hiding.
- Describe how the rights of the Franks were denied.
Key Words: Rights, Deny, Responsibilities, and hiding.
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Rights: A moral and legal entitlement to have or do something
Deny: to refuse to recognize or acknowledge someone or something
Hiding: To put out of sight or be secrete
Responsibility: To be held accountable for someone or something
WHO IS ANNE FRANK?
✓ Annelies Marie popularly known as Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager and
WWII Holocaust victim who is well known for her work “The Diary of Anne
Frank”.
✓ Anne was born on the 12th of June 1929, in Frankfurt Germany into an
upper middle-class German-Jewish family.
✓ Anne’s father Otto Frank was a lieutenant in the German army during
WWI, and later becoming a businessman in Germany and the
Netherlands.
✓ Anne’s mother, Edith Frank, basically managed the home and took care of
Anne and her sister Margot, who was three years older than her.
✓ Anne and her family lived freely in the outskirt of Frankfurt until 1933
when anti-Semitism became popular with the rule of Adolf Hitler. During
this period, Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam where her father
became the managing director of the Dutch Okpeta Company.
✓ In Amsterdam, the franks enjoyed the freedom and acceptance they
found there. They all started life all over again, and Anne attended
Amsterdam sixth Montessori school where she made many friends.
✓ On Anne’s 13th birthday she received a red and white diary, which she
decided to use to record all her life experiences.
✓ The contents of Annes diary formed the basis of her book ‘the diary of
Anne Frank.’
WHY WAS ANNE FRANK FORCED TO GO INTO HIDING?
• In May 1940, the Peace in Amsterdam was disrupted by the Nazis invasion
and the franks were put on the edge again. Jews in Amsterdam were
subjected to the following rules which violated their rights:
- Jews had to wear the yellow star of David and observe strict curfew.
- Jews were not allowed to own businesses; Anne’s father had to
transfer ownership of his business to Christian associates but ran
it behind the scenes.
- Jews could only attend segregated Jewish schools, which Anne and
Margot attended.
• A month later, In July 1942, Germans began sending Jews to
concentration camps where they were subjected to all kinds of hard
labour. The franks attempted to emigrate to the United States but were
denied Visas, as USA had suspended every form of emigration.
• Unable to flee from Amsterdam Otto set up a hiding place in the Annex of
his firm with the help of his Jewish partner Johannes Klerman and Victor
Kugler.
• On the 5th of July 1942 the franks got a letter which summoned Margot to
the concentration camp, and the Frank’s went into hiding the following
day.
ANNE’S LIFE IN HIDING (1942-1944)
❖ For two years, eight people lived in the secret annex; the four Franks were
later joined by Herman Van Pels, his wife Auguste and their 16-year-old
son peter. In November that same year, they were later joined by Fritz
Pfeffer, a dentist and friend of Frank’s.
❖ For the two years spent in the annex, the franks were assisted by Klerman,
Kugler, Jan Gies and Miep Gies. They also managed Otto’s business while
he was in hiding and brought food, news, and other necessities to those
inthe annex.
❖ According to Anne, the annex had several small rooms and narrow halls,
and the residents of the annex did a great deal of reading and studying to
pass time, while she did a lot of writing. The residents followed a strict
schedule that required them to be quiet at certain times so the workers
in the office wouldn’t hear them.
ANNE’S DIARY
➢ Anne made detailed entries throughout her time in the secrete annex.
According to her “the nicest part is being able to write all my thoughts and
feelings otherwise I’d absolutely suffocate’’.
➢ While she described life in the secrete annex, she also wrote extensively
about her complicated relationship with her mother, and her growing
feelings for peter.
➢ On March 28th, 1944, the residents heard the Dutch cabinet minister
Gerrit Bolkestein on the radio, admonishing people to submit written
documents written during the war to preserve an account of the
Holocaust. This information encouraged Anne’s writing and prompted her
ambition of becoming a journalist. She asserted that “I can’t imagine
having to live like mother and Mrs. Van Pels and all the women who go
about their work and are then forgotten, I need to have something
besides a husband and children to devote myself”.
➢ Anne also wrote about missing nature, Jewish ethics, and her views on
humanity. Her famous statement in the diary was ‘I still believe despite
everything that people are truly good at heart”.
➢ Anne’s last diary entry was made on 1st August 1944.
THE FINAL DAYS OF ANNE FRANK
❖ On August 4th, 1944, German police stormed the secrete Annex and
arrested everyone in hiding. It was unknown how the police discovered
the annex; many suspected betrayals from their friends while some
suspected the workers in the building.
❖ All the residents from the annex were sent to the Wester Bork transit
camp where they were put in the punishment block.
❖ In September 1944 they were sent to Auschwitz, where the men were
separated from the women. This was the last time Anne saw her father.
❖ Anne, Margot, and Edith remained in Auschwitz doing hard labour until
1st of November 1944 when Anne and Margot were transferred to
Bergen Belsen. Edith died few days after her girls were taken away from
her.
❖ After three months, Anne and Margot developed Typhus; Margot died in
February 1945, and Anne died few days later.
❖ Anne’s diary was found by Miep Gies after the arrest, and it was given to
Otto when he returned from Amsterdam.
Anne
margot
THE FRANKS
EDITH, MARGOT, ANNE, OTTO FRANK
MRS VAN PELS, PETER, MR VAN PELS, FRITZ PFIFFER
THE SECRETE ANEX