Synopsis
One of the most valuable and informative artifacts of the holocaust, THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL is the actual diary of Anne Frank, a German-Jewish girl living in Amsterdam during World War II. The diary begins on June 14, 1942, shortly after Anne's 13th birthday. While initial entries focus on Anne's life at school and her relationships with her friends and family, she does touch on the ever-growing power of the Nazi party and the increasing persecution of Jewish people. In July of 1942, fearing deportation to Auschwitz, the Franks go into hiding in a "secret annex" in the attic of Mr. Frank's former business. Soon after, they are joined by the Van Daan family and a dentist named Mr. Dussel. For over two years, Anne recorded what life was like in the annex--the fear, tension, frustration--and even boredom--of a life lived under very compromised conditions. Much of the diary centers on Anne's difficult, if typically adolescent, relationship with her mother as well as on her crush on the Van Daan's teenage son, Peter. Anne also shares her hopes for her life after the war--and her dream of becoming a writer. In this way, the diary introduces readers to a very typical teenage girl--a girl whose thoughts and emotions put a human face on the almost incomprehensible horror of the Holocaust. First published in 1947 by Anne's father (the only member of the group to survive the war), THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL has since been translated into 31 languages and serves as an eloquent memorial to all those who died in the Holocaust.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1993-07-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 283 pages | | Height: | 6.8 in | | Width: | 4.3 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 5.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic -- a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit. In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annex" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
The classic text of the diary Anne Frank kept during the two years she and her family hid from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic is a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
Industry Reviews
"Anne's journal is not only highly interesting as a vivid factual record of life in Amsterdam during the most oppressive and terrifying years of the war, it is also a remarkable study in the psychology of a small group of people forced to live together in almost unbearable proximity."
New Statesman - Antonia White (05/17/1952)
"Anne Frank's diary is too tenderly intimate a book to be frozen with the label 'classic,' and yet no lesser designation serves. For little Anne Frank, spirited, moody, witty, self-doubting, succeeded in communication in virtually perfect, or classic, form the drama of puberty. But her book is not a classic to be left on the library shelf. It is a warm and stirring confession, to be read over and over for insight and enjoyment."
New York Times Book Review - Meyer Levin (06/15/1952)
"Why is it that we still find ourselves drawn to the writings of this young woman, who has been dead for forty years? Her writing is startling in its clarity and its contemporary sensibilities. But that cannot be all. Anne Frank is compelling because hers is not a tale of endless horror. She is young, and hopeful...She is not Everywoman, she is Anne. Her story is her own and no one else's. Yet we relate to Anne Frank because she is like us."
Whole Earth Review - Alana Suskin
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