Anne Frank
Although not the only diary of a young girl written during the dark times of World War II, The Diary of a Young Girl (1952) by Anne Frank has touched the hearts of millions of people worldwide. Apart from being a notable coming-of-age memoir, it also gives the reader a glimpse into wartime life in The Netherlands, into the courage of a people politically declared neutral, but willing to help their fellow humans in distress. It also reveals once again, man’s capacity for inhumanity. (SEE ALSO the movie of the same name .)
About Anne Frank
Anne Frank Center, USA
The Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank Internet Guide
The Anne Frank Trust UK
Gies, Miep. Anne Frank Remembered. 1988.
Interviews with Mies Giep
“An Interview with Mies Giep,” Books@Random
Scholastic
Interview with Otto Frank
BBC Blue Peter Audio Interview
The History of the Book, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Discussion Guide for Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Books@Random
Reviews of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Hampl, Patricia. “The Whole Anne Frank,” [review of the definitive edition], The New York Times on the Web, March 5, 1995.
Levin, Meyer. “Life in the Secret Annex,” The New York Times on the Web, June 15, 1952. [reprinted online October 6, 1996]
Prescott, Orville. “Books of the Times,” The New York Times on the Web, June 16, 1952.
Review of the play, The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett [winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Drama Critics Circle Award]
Atkinson, Brooks. “Theatre: ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’” The New York Times on the Web, October 6, 1955.
War from the Child’s Perspective
As dreadful as World War II and the Holocaust were, that time period does not hold a monopoly on the victimization of children through war. Some of the titles listed below, all told from the child’s perspective, are marketed for youth, but their quality is such that adults will also derive much benefit from them.
Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. 2007.
Filipovic, Zlata. Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo. 1994. (J)
Lobel, Anita. No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War. 1998. (J)
Novac, Ana. The Beautiful Days of My Youth: My Six Months in Auschwitz and Plaszow. 1997. (YA)
Velmans, Edith, Edith’s Story: The True Story of a Young Girl’s Courage and Survival During World War II. 1998.
Whiteley, Suzanne Mehler, Appel Is Forever: A Child’s Memoir. 1999.
People in Hiding
Many people survived war by hiding—either hiding away in a cellar, a barn, an attic, or a forest—or by hiding in plain sight, pretending to be other than they were. And some didn’t survive, as seen in the case of Anne Frank, despite hiding out successfully for a long time.
Cyprys, Ruth Altbeker and Elaine Potter. A Jump for Life: A Survivor’s Journal from Nazi-occupied Poland. 1997.
Holthe, Tess Uriza. When the Elephants Dance. 2002. [Fiction]
Nir, Yehuda. The Lost Childhood: A World War II Memoir. 2002. [hiding in plain sight]
Rose, Daniel Asa. Hiding Places: A Father and His Sons Retrace Their Family’s Escape from the Holocaust. 2000.
Roseman, Mark. A Past in Hiding: Memory and Survival in Nazi Germany. 2000.
Skahun, Michael. On Burning Ground: A Son’s Memoir. 1999. [hiding in plain sight]
Righting Wrongs
The fact that tens of thousands more people have not died in war is due to the courage of individuals whose ethos would not permit them to stand by idly watching. These are only a few such stories.
Gilbert, Martin. The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. 2002.
Hegi, Ursula. Stones from the River. 1994. [Fiction]
Opdyke, Irene Gut. Into the Flames: The Life Story of a Righteous Gentile. 1992. [a later version of her story was written for young people: In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer. 1999.]
Origo, Iris and Denis Mack Smith. War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944. 1995.
Schindler’s List. [DVD]
Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. 1971.
(Created with the help of the Orangeville Workshop participants. All Web sites accessed June, 2007.
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