Anne Frank's Biography

Annelies Marie Frank, better known as Anne Frank, was born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

In 1933, when Hitler came to power, Anne Frank's father, Otto, took the family to Holland.

After the Nazi occupation of Holland on May 15 1940 the Franks' lives became severely restricted by the anti-Jewish Decrees that were brought in.

Thousands of Jews living in Amsterdam, including Margot, Anna Frank's older sister, received a call-up on July 5, 1942. The Nazis planned to send them to work camps in Germany. The family faced arrest if Margot did not report.

In preparing for such an eventuality the Franks had a secret hiding place almost ready. It was located in an empty section of the building owned by Otto Frank's company. The entrance to the secret annex was concealed behind a movable bookcase.

The Franks and the others that hid there were helped by Otto Frank's four employees: Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler and Bep Voskuijl.

Suddenly on August 4, 1944, an SS-officer and three Dutch policemen entered the building and headed straight for the office. They ordered Victor Kugler to escort them to the Secret Annex. Anna Frank and her family and the others in hiding had been betrayed. They were arrested and taken to prison for interrogation.

Two of the helpers, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, were left behind and rescued the diary that Anne Frank had been writing.

On August 8, 1944, the Franks were assigned to the punishment block at Westerbork. On September 3, 1944, a train left Westerbork with more than 70 prisoners packed into each wagon. Among the 1019 Jewish prisoners were the Frank family. After three days, they arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

At the end of October 1944, Anne and Margot were transported from Auschwitz-Birkenau to Bergen-Belsen. Their mother, Edith, remained behind in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she fell ill and died of exhaustion in January 1945.

Anne and Margot Frank succumbed to typhus in March 1945, a few weeks before the Bergen-Belsen camp was liberated by the British Army.

Anne Frank's diary was published in 1947 in the Netherlands under the title Het Achterhuis (in English: 'The Annex'). The diary has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold millions of copies.

An important source for this biography of Anne Frank was the website of the Anne Frank Museum. Their site is full of information and is highly recommended.

In January 2008, the BBC reported that The Diary of Anne Frank was to be made into a Spanish musical.

In April 2008, the BBC reported that:

"A greetings card signed by the Jewish diarist Anne Frank has been found in an antique shop near Amsterdam."