Secrets Of The Annex

Imagine living in a space that was barely big enough for family of four, let along for eight people.

That was the reality for Anne Frank and her family for two years during World War 2. The Frank family were Jewish and to be able to stay safe, they hid in the secret annex which was located at the back of Anne’s father, Otto’s business. They had invited another family and a family friend to stay with them. Anne had to share a room with someone she hardly knew while her sister, Margot slept in the same room as their parents.

During that time, Anne wrote a diary, which she received for her birthday, just weeks before the family went into hiding. She wrote about daily life in the annex, her relationships with her family and what she misses about being outside and interacting with her friends.

There were a few people that knew what was going on and the people in hiding trusted them. They knew they were taking care of when it came to providing them with supplies and any news from the outside world, but everyone involved knew there were risks. They knew that they had to stay quiet during the day since Otto’s business was just a floor below them and there were employees working. One little sound like a footstep can make someone suspicious.

As time went on, everyone was optimistic that the war was going to end, but the longer they stayed in the annex, the harder it became. Everyone was on edge; they were struggling with their mental health. Anne being 14-15 was frustrated that she wasn’t able to do things that a typical teenager could do, she wanted to experience everything, but due to the current situation of where she was, she had learn how to be quiet, something that she was known not to be. It was challenging for everyone.

It was hard for everyone because they had hoped that the war would be over while they were in the annex, but from what they were hearing on the radio and from their friends, the war had no end in sight. There was lot more going on outside than the Franks had realized. People they knew were taking to concentration camps, homes were being raided, families being torn apart.  Otto Frank hoped that his family would never had to do through that.

They had found a routine in their daily life in the annex, but all that came to an end in August of 1944 when their hiding space got raided. The family plus the other people were then taken and sent to various camps.

Otto went to one while his wife and daughters went another. That was the last time Otto saw his family, but he didn’t know it the time. He spend the reminder of the war, hoping to see his girls again. Miep Gies saw Anne’s diary and kept it in her desk. She wanted to keep it and give it back to Anne once she came back, but that never happened.

By early 1945, Anne, her sister, Margot and their mother, Edith passed away in Bergan Belson. Anne and Margot within days of each other and thought to have passed from typhus.  

Otto was the only one in the Frank family to survive and the only survivor among the eight that lived in the annex. It took Otto some time to be able to read his daughter’s diary but knew that Anne wanted to be an author so he published it in honor of his daughter. He wanted the world to know what really happened during their time in the annex and have people understand what they experienced.

To this day, nobody knows who betrayed the Frank family, but there have been theories. It could have been someone they knew; it could have been someone who saw someone in the annex window since there was a window that faced the courtyard in the back, but the windows had black out blinds and they knew they had to keep them closed. The betrayers could have been anyone.

If Anne Frank lived, she would be almost 100 years old and one of the last surviving people of the holocaust, if maybe the only surviving person. We keep her memory alive through Anne’s diary.