Back to: West Bengal Board Class 7th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
The following excerpt is from Anne Frank’s book titled ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’. Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 12, 1929. Anne Frank chronicles her experience in her journal when she and her family were forced to relocate to Amsterdam and seek refuge in a secret office building annexe. The excerpt depicts her experience shortly before she and her family fled to shelter.
About The Author
Anne Frank was a Jewish diarist who was of German-Dutch origin. She is one of the most talked-about Jewish Holocaust victims, according to the 1947 release of The Diary of a Young Girl, in which she details her time in hiding from 1942 to 1944. Anne was given a diary on her thirteenth birthday, soon before they fled into hiding. Anne wrote about occurrences at the Secret Annex as well as her feelings and thoughts throughout her two years in hiding.
The Diary, Anne’s Family, Friends And More…
Anne discusses pretty standard girlhood experiences in the beginning of her journal, her interactions with other girls, her feelings for boys, and her academic achievements at school. Anne and her elder sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam because anti-Semitic legislation required Jews to attend separate schools. In the years running up to World War II, the Franks fled to the Netherlands to avoid persecution in Germany.
Anne’s journal begins on June 12, 1942, on her thirteenth birthday, and finishes shortly after she turns fifteen. She began describing her birthday at daybreak. She discovered a bouquet of roses, plants, peonies, and other presents that continued to arrive throughout the day. She received a Camera Obscura, candies, puzzle games, a brooch, wonderful books, and money. She gave out cookies and cakes to everyone at school.
Her next piece of documentation is from June 15, 1942. She discusses her birthday celebrations on Sunday. Her buddies and she watched ‘The Lighthouse Keeper.’ She cites Lies Goosens and Sanne Houtman, two of her closest friends. Jopie de Waal had also become her new best friend.
Another fragment, dated June 20, 1942, was included in the diary. She talks to her diary, claiming that no one would be interested in reading about a thirteen-year-daily old’s confessions, but she likes writing regardless. She goes on to say that she started writing a journal because she didn’t have any solid friends at the time. She wanted the diary to be her friend, therefore she went into great detail about everything. She also wrote on the loss of her grandma and detailed several significant members of her family. Anne then shared her sorrowful goodbye to Mrs. K at her kindergarten. Due to Hitler’s anti-Semitic regulations, they were compelled to leave the school.
The excerpt concludes with Anne Frank notifying her special friend, the diary, that she, her sister Margot, and her parents were all safe on the day indicated.
