The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

“Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. [...] Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. [...] Everyone is scared.”

I, unfortunately, am thinking of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank a lot these days. To be clear, the unfortunateness of this is not due to the quality of the book--it is 100% due to the terrible things happening outside (as Frank would've phrased it).

When she was just 13, Frank and her family went into hiding due to Hitler's increasing disturbing actions. With aspirations of wanting to be a writer, Frank kept a diary during her time in the attic hiding place. After two years in hiding, the Frank family was captured and sent to concentration camps. Frank would die before the camp she was in was liberated (likely of typhus). She was only 15.

Frank's father, Otto Frank, survived and found that his daughter's diary had also. He had it published in 1947 in Dutch and, especially after its translation to English in 1952, The Diary of a Young Girl became emblematic of the heinous tragedies that happened during the Holocaust.

Frank wrote in her diary, “I wish to go on living even after my death.” And, through the publication of her beautifully written diary, she does.

Do not forget her.

Do not turn away from what is happening.

As Frank wrote, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, Contact Publishing