Select Board & Class

Login

Summary

Part I- 12 June 1942 to 8 July 1942

Part I: 12 June 1942 to 8 July 1942

Turning thirteen

Anne Frank receives a diary as one of the gifts on her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942. She decides to use it to record her observations, thoughts and feelings.
Anne feels that it is strange for her to keep a diary as she has never done so before. She thinks that the “unbosomings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl” will not be of interest to anyone. Nevertheless, she feels like writing and unburdening her heart of the secrets buried in it.


The confidant

Anne writes that the need to keep a diary stems from the fact that she is unable to share her secret thoughts with any of the friends or relations in her life. Believing in the adage that “paper is more patient than man”, she decides to transform her diary into the “real” friend for whom she has waited long. She begins addressing this friend as “Kitty”.


School and friends

Anne lives in Amsterdam with her parents Otto and Edith, and her sixteen-year-old sister Margot. She describes her life as a Jewish teen living in German-occupied Netherlands. She studies in a Jewish secondary school, gets along quite well with her teachers and is good at her studies. She narrates an anecdote involving herself and her math teacher Mr Keptor
(Mr Keesing). She has a number of friends, chief among whom are Lies Goosens (Hanneli Goslar), Sanne Houtman (Sanne Ledermann) and Jopie de Waal (Jacqueline van Maarsen). She also has more than a few admirers.
Anne confesses to being in love with a boy named Peter Wessel (Peter Schiff). Shortly after her thirteenth birthday, Anne becomes friends with Harry Goldberg (Hello Silberberg). Though she likes him and her whole family approves of him, she reveals that she is not in love. Nevertheless, the opposite is true in case of Harry.  


A brief history

Anne gives an overview of her childhood. She was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929. Four years later, the Frank family left Frankfurt to evade the ever-growing Nazi persecution. Otto Frank went to the Netherlands and established himself in a food products business. Edith Frank and her daughters went to live with her mother in Aachen, near the Belgian border. By the spring of 1934, the Frank family had reunited and settled in Amsterdam. For the next six years, Anne lived happily in Amsterdam like any Dutch girl. During this period, she and her sister attended the Montessori School.
After May 1940, the good times rapidly fled. Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May and occupied it within a few days. The Germans terrorised and exploited the conquered country. They also imposed harsh measures that severely restricted the freedom of Jews. One of these was that Jews could attend Jewish schools only. Consequently, in 1941, Anne and her sister started going to a Jewish secondary school.  
In 1940, Otto Frank transferred the ownership of his companies to his non-Jewish Dutch associates Mr Kraler (Victor Kugler) and Mr Koophuis (Johannes Kleiman). This was to avoid their confiscation by the Germans. In February 1941, the Nazis began rounding up Jews in Amsterdam for deportation to concentration camps.
Edith’s mother joined the Franks in Amsterdam in 1939. She died of a terminal illness in
January 1942. Anne reveals that her “Granny” is still present in her thoughts and that she still loves her.


Time to go

While taking a stroll, Otto talks to Anne about going into hiding to avoid falling into the clutches of the Germans. It is revealed that the Franks have been storing up food, clothes and furniture with their friends in view of such an eventuality.
On 5 July, Margot receives a call-up notice from Schutzstaffel or the SS (the special police force in Nazi Germany which administered the concentration camps). She is required to report for deportation to a concentration camp. The Franks make final preparations to leave their home. Anne and Margot pack their most vital belongings in satchels. Miep (Otto’s business associate) and her husband Henk van Santen (Jan Gies) help carry off things to the hiding place. Since they cannot risk carrying suitcases, the Franks put on as many layers of clothes as they can. Early next morning, Margot leaves along with Miep for the hiding place. Anne and her parents follow later that same day.
Part I: 12 June 1942 to 8 July 1942

Turning thirteen

Anne Frank receives a diary as one of the gifts on her thirteenth birthday on 12 June 1942. She decides to use it to record her observations, thoughts and feelings.
Anne feels that it is strange for her to keep a diary as she has never done so before. She thinks that the “unbosomings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl” will not be of interest to anyone. Nevertheless, she feels like writing and unburdening her heart of the secrets buried in it.


The confidant

Anne writes that the need to keep a diary stems from the fact that she is unable to share her secret thoughts with any of the friends or relations in her life. Believing in the adage that “paper is more patient than man”, sh…

To view the complete topic, please

What are you looking for?

Syllabus