“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
–Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born on this day in 1929. She would have been 83.
Anne, of course, was one of the millions of victims of the Holocaust in Europe in the 1930s and 40s. She and her family hid in the secret annex of a business her father once owned (and later managed) in Amsterdam. Anne kept a diary detailing their time in hiding. On August 4th, 1944, after 2 years in hiding, the eight people living in the Annex were arrested and taken to concentration camps. Otto, her father, was the only one who survived. He returned to the Annex and eventually was able to get Anne’s diary published.
As her world started to close in on her Anne struggled with anger and resentment at what was happening, but the pages of her diary reflect an incredibly optimistic young lady. As she notes…
“in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
The diary has been published as book, made into a Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play, movie and television drama.
Here is a nice page by the Anne Frank Museum where you can learn more about Anne’s story.
ritaLOVEStoWRITE 
June 12th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
This is a beautiful post about of of my great heroines, albeit one who never reached adulthood. Thank you 🙂
June 12th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
@ Kate… agreed. I think Anne Frank is, for many of us, the first glimpse of the Holocaust … and she puts such a human face on the tragedy. I can remember reading the Diary as a girl. It really changed the way I saw/see the world.
June 13th, 2012 at 2:18 am
Ok, Mom. This was good enough to convince me to get a blog. well posted:)