Product Description

Anne Frank kept a diary from 12 June 1942 to 1 August 1944. Initially, she wrote it strictly for herself, but one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast from London that after the war he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of the suffering of the Dutch people under the German occupation, which could be made available to the public. As an example, he specifically mentioned letters and diaries. Anne Frank decided that when the war was over she would publish a book based on her diary.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145574 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-27
• Original language: Dutch
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Read it!
I didn't read this book when I was a teenager, like many do in school. Now, reading it for the first time in middle age, I wish I had read this many years ago! Moving, provoking, funny and painfully sad, all at the same time. The senseless murder of Anne brings to life the true barbarity of fascism in a accessable way. She wanted to be a writer after the war - on the basis of this dairy we can easily guess she would have been one of the best...

Sad, but rewarding.
Reading this book is both rewarding and sad, so prepare yourself your both. I'm less than half way through this book and I feel nothing but sadness that such a life was taken at such a young time in life. I wish I could express my feeling about this book in the same way Anne could express herself in her diary, but I don't possess such a talent, even though I'm twenty years her senior. Like most people, I know what Anne's destiny is, and I find some aspects of this diary very difficult to read, knowing what I do.

I don't think I'm the only person alive that believes that the world is a poorer place without the talents of such gifted people like Anne, but we cant change the course of history, so lets hope we can learn the lesson of our past.

I'm not the type for travelling, but this diary has inspired me to visit Anne's 'secret Annex' to see first hand the place where she lived in isolation for so long. I've read many books in my time, but none have touched my heart as this one has.

A truly compelling, moving, book
This Novel, published posthomously by Ann's father, brings a human side to a horror so great it is hard to envisage. In a modern time of freedom and plenty, it is hard for us to image going into hiding, unable to go out and in constant danger of discovery, let alone imagine the horrible food shortages. Anns diary is written as if to a friend, and as the reader you become that friend, sharing in her whole, eventful life. It takes you to that un-imaginable time and place, and you get the opportunity to understand what it was like. One of the most moving books I have ever read, and re-read.