Saturday, January 26, 2008

Why Keep a Diary?

Diary of Anne Frank

"I hope I will be able to confide everything in you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."

This is the first entry in Anne Frank's diary, June 12, 1942

From the date of her 1st entry until August 1, 1944, when the Nazis discovered her family's hiding place in occupied Amsterdam, this diary unfolds as one of the extraordinary documents of the human spirit.

She received her diary for her 13th birthday. Over the next two years, she described her Jewish family's life in the secret annex. She died in Bergen-Belsen, of typhus. Her writings were published in 1947.

In her second-to-last entry she wrote,

"It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."


Anne Frank


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How strong she and others like her were...to be in those conditions and still see the good in people

Bridget said...

Amazing. I am reading a book about a couple who saved Jews in Poland during Nazi Germany.

It is so great that people like Anne Frank kept a diary.

You have motivated me too to start doing it again. I kept a faithful journal since I was 8 years old. Then when my mom died, writing in it was so painful and I stopped. I really need to start up again. Thanks for this post.

bedelia said...

where was her journal found? How did it come to be published?

Travelin'Oma said...

Anne's family, as well as the others who were in hiding with them, were all arrested and sent to various concentration camps. The only one to survive was Anne's father. He went back to the people who had hidden them, hoping to find others in his family, and found they had all died. The woman who had hidden them, found the diary after Anne was taken away, had kept it, and gave it to her father who had it published.

It's an unbelievable story, and well worth reading.