Progress:
Hey, welcome back!
I hope you all enjoyed my art themed blog posts last quarter. Who knows, maybe I'll visit more art museums after this project and continue blogging! ;-) Anyways, for this quarter, I will be exploring history and of course, visit a history related museum. More specifically, I will be focusing on The Holocaust and will go to the Museum of Tolerance afterwards! Personally, I am really excited for this quarter. I've always heard of stories about the time of Hitler's regime but I think now is the right time for me to do some research on my own using various sources. Are you ready? Let's go!
The first person I decided to research is a young girl named Anne Frank. Anne, or Annelies, Frank, was born in June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. (what a coincidence!) Her parents are Edith Frank (mother) and Otto Frank (father) and she also had an older sister named Margot. Unfortunately, Anne passed away (her sister passed away first) around February 1945 because she had a deadly disease called Typhus. She would have been 86 years old today! Don't worry...her small death left a huge mark on the world! (look at that antithesis! ;] )
Now for some more background information...
Adolf Hilter took control of Germany's government in 1933. Keep in mind that The Holocaust occurred during January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945. In the fall of 1933, Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. However, on May 10, 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Anne even wrote in her diary, (her first diary...she must have loved writing!) "After May 1940, the good times were few and far between; first there was the war, then the capitulation and then the arrival of the Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews." She wrote about everything starting from her experiences to her feelings of what was currently going on in her life.
I could never imagine what a young girl around my age was going through!
Hey, welcome back!
I hope you all enjoyed my art themed blog posts last quarter. Who knows, maybe I'll visit more art museums after this project and continue blogging! ;-) Anyways, for this quarter, I will be exploring history and of course, visit a history related museum. More specifically, I will be focusing on The Holocaust and will go to the Museum of Tolerance afterwards! Personally, I am really excited for this quarter. I've always heard of stories about the time of Hitler's regime but I think now is the right time for me to do some research on my own using various sources. Are you ready? Let's go!
The first person I decided to research is a young girl named Anne Frank. Anne, or Annelies, Frank, was born in June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. (what a coincidence!) Her parents are Edith Frank (mother) and Otto Frank (father) and she also had an older sister named Margot. Unfortunately, Anne passed away (her sister passed away first) around February 1945 because she had a deadly disease called Typhus. She would have been 86 years old today! Don't worry...her small death left a huge mark on the world! (look at that antithesis! ;] )
Now for some more background information...
Adolf Hilter took control of Germany's government in 1933. Keep in mind that The Holocaust occurred during January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945. In the fall of 1933, Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam, Netherlands. However, on May 10, 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Anne even wrote in her diary, (her first diary...she must have loved writing!) "After May 1940, the good times were few and far between; first there was the war, then the capitulation and then the arrival of the Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews." She wrote about everything starting from her experiences to her feelings of what was currently going on in her life.
I could never imagine what a young girl around my age was going through!
Anyhow, the Jews were now forced to wear the yellow Star of David. They also were banned from owning businesses (which Otto Frank was doing). Immediately, he passed the ownership of his jam company over to his Christian associates, Jo Kleiman and Victor Kugler, while he secretly continued working. Also, the Germans forced Anne and Margot to transfer to a segregated Jewish school. In July 1942, Margot was then notified by the Central Office of Jewish Emigration to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany. The next day, her family, alone with four other families, decided to escape and hide for two years in what they called the Secret Annex. This was an an empty space at the back of her father's company building. This also gave Anne an opportunity to write in her new red journal she received for her 13th birthday. (Her journal was published as The Diary of Anne Frank). In fact, she often started her journal entries with "Dear Kitty," who some people believe was a nickname for her prewar friend; others believe it was the name of her imaginary friend.
But now is when bad things started to happen...
In August 4, 1944, everyone hiding in the Secret Annex was caught by a German officer and four Dutch Nazis and eventually arrested. It was a possibility that a someone told the Germans where the families were hiding, but even today, that information is still unknown. This also sadly ends Anne's writing. Eventually, the group was transferred by train to a concentration camp in northeastern Netherlands called Camp Westerbork in August 8th. In addition, they were transported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland by September 3rd. However, the families were then separated by gender and unfortunately, Ottoman could never see his wife or daughters ever again.
After months of difficult labor, the two sisters, Anne and Margot, were taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. In this camp, food was extremely scarce, sanitation was horrible, and diseases were constantly spreading. Also, during this time, the disease typhus was prevalent. This ended up killing Margot and Anne, who was 15, around February to March. Their mother could not follow them to the concentration camp and eventually passed away in January 6, 1945.
In August 4, 1944, everyone hiding in the Secret Annex was caught by a German officer and four Dutch Nazis and eventually arrested. It was a possibility that a someone told the Germans where the families were hiding, but even today, that information is still unknown. This also sadly ends Anne's writing. Eventually, the group was transferred by train to a concentration camp in northeastern Netherlands called Camp Westerbork in August 8th. In addition, they were transported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland by September 3rd. However, the families were then separated by gender and unfortunately, Ottoman could never see his wife or daughters ever again.
After months of difficult labor, the two sisters, Anne and Margot, were taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. In this camp, food was extremely scarce, sanitation was horrible, and diseases were constantly spreading. Also, during this time, the disease typhus was prevalent. This ended up killing Margot and Anne, who was 15, around February to March. Their mother could not follow them to the concentration camp and eventually passed away in January 6, 1945.
Their father ended up being the only survivor out of their family. (Unfortunately he passed away in August 19, 1980.) After the British soldiers liberated the camp, he went to Amsterdam to try to gain any information about his family. Eventually in July 18, 1945, he found two sisters who were with Anne and Margot at the Bergen-Belsen camp and found out that no one from his familiy survived. Fortunately, however, their family friend, Miep Gies, was able to keep Anne's small diary and returned it to Otto when he went to Holland. Gies had always wanted to publish Anne's diary when she was still alive. But, after her death, her father decided to edit it and publish it himself in 1947. After reading her diary, her father stated, "There was revealed a completely different Anne to the child that I had lost."
Currently, her book is published in 67 languages. Without Anne's simple writings in her journal, she would not be able to impact the millions of lives she has today.
Currently, her book is published in 67 languages. Without Anne's simple writings in her journal, she would not be able to impact the millions of lives she has today.
Reflection:
Overall, I truly had a fun time researching about Anne Frank. Prior to this research, I read hear diary in my English class and briefly knew who she was, but now I think I can call myself an expert when it comes to Anne's story. There were times during my research that I kept thinking to myself, "Wow! She's around my age and she had to go through all of that. I could never do that." At other times, I was really angry that someone betrayed her family and revealed to the Germans where they were hiding.
I do not regret researching about Anne and her family because personally, history is not my best subject and sometimes it does not interest me enough. However, I become more engaged when I take the time to research the event on my own. This research has allowed me to have a new respect on Anne Frank. I cannot wait to tell everyone about the story of Anne! :-)
-Kelly
Overall, I truly had a fun time researching about Anne Frank. Prior to this research, I read hear diary in my English class and briefly knew who she was, but now I think I can call myself an expert when it comes to Anne's story. There were times during my research that I kept thinking to myself, "Wow! She's around my age and she had to go through all of that. I could never do that." At other times, I was really angry that someone betrayed her family and revealed to the Germans where they were hiding.
I do not regret researching about Anne and her family because personally, history is not my best subject and sometimes it does not interest me enough. However, I become more engaged when I take the time to research the event on my own. This research has allowed me to have a new respect on Anne Frank. I cannot wait to tell everyone about the story of Anne! :-)
-Kelly
Work Cited
1) http://www.biography.com/people/anne-frank-9300892#the-diary-of-a-young-girl-
2) http://www.history.co.uk/biographies/anne-frank
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
1) http://www.biography.com/people/anne-frank-9300892#the-diary-of-a-young-girl-
2) http://www.history.co.uk/biographies/anne-frank
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank