I expected to be moved. But it came as a surprise that the story which made me blink back tears was not that of Anne, but rather her father Otto.
Otto Frank ran a business selling jars of spices. He occasionally brought his daughters to his warehouse overlooking the canal. Anne didn't like the creepy dark of the warehouse, "Why spices?" she said. "If we're in the food business, might as well make something tasty like candy!"
In 1942, during the German occupation, a "work summon" came for Margot, Anne's older sister. Otto took his family into hiding two days later, in the attic annex above his warehouse. His henchman created a secret bookcase to hide the annex entrance stairs.
Otto continued to run the business from hiding, giving orders to his two assistants. He transferred the company to their name, but they consulted him every day on business decisions.
In 1944, two years into hiding, the Franks are betrayed. The Germans search the attic and confiscate the valuables, but leave Anne's journals scattered on the floor.
The Franks are sent to separate concentration camps. Margot dies in March 1945 of typhoid, one month before the liberation. Anne says, "I have no one left to me now," not knowing that her father is still alive. She dies a few days later.
Otto lives through the end of the war. He comes back to the warehouse, and learns that his wife is dead. He asks everyone if they have news of his daughters. He takes out an ad in the newspaper, week after week.
A couple of months go by. One day, Otto is sorting the day's mail with his assistant Miep. Suddenly he goes completely silent. Miep turns to look at him. He's very pale. He hands her a letter, "Read this."
It says, "I hereby notify you that Margot Frank and Anne Frank are dead. I was a nurse in camp XXX along with them."
Miep pushes back her chair and stands up. She opens the desk drawer and with both hands takes out a pile of bound journals and loose leaf papers.
"These are Anne's journals," Miep says. "This is the legacy of your daughter."
8 comments:
I remember hearing a lot of interesting stuff about the publication of Anne's diary. As I recall, Otto had a hard time deciding whether to publish it and then how to do it. At some point even the parts he had censored got released, though I'm not sure how. Great story, everyone should know about it.
I am unhappy tonight. Reading this post made me feel a little bit better.
Thank you Niniane.
Great post. From your photo, you look like you have sensitive, red skin like me. You should try Eucerin gentle face wash. It's really helped my redness.
That so RUDE Diane. You should learn some manners before you post another comment. Probably you're some crazy single woman who owns a cat. Meow. Bitch.
You have inspired me to learn programming. I started reading some of your posts about the projects you've done at Google and I picked up a calculus and PHP book at Starbucks.
Thanks
Option Explicit
Dim Niniane as Awesome
If Niniane = Alive Then
Niniane = Greatest person ever
End if
linkysysrouter:
Dude that doesn't look like php to me. It looks like VB or VBA.
That's because I only know VB. Studied it in high school about 3 years ago.
Not that I know of any Chinese holocost people, but isn't there a "Diary of Amy Chang" out there that outlines the massacre in Nanjing by Japs in the 40's
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