On the tracks of Anne Frank together!
„The life story of Anne Frank” - exhibition Learning from the history of mankind has its deep rational roots in this unfavourable time, when riots are looming beyond our borders. Our 7.A students are actively involved in the implementation of the project which central theme is the life of Anna Frank during World War II. The notes in her diary, which this 13-year-old Jewish girl wrote in the shelter have been preserved as a cruel testimony for all of us. Let us just hope that the diaries that our students are beginning to write these days will be the proof of their joyful childhood and fond memories of a happy period of adolescence. As part of the project, students had the opportunity on Friday, March 4, 2022, to see the exhibition "The Life Story of Anna Frank." The students got deep feelings from this visit which you can now see thanks to the captured photos
Radoslava Otto and Edith believed that the Netherlands will remain neutral as in World War I. The Dutch didn’t know about dreadful acts, what the Nazis committed in Poland. On the 27th 1940 Margot was writing to her friend Betty An Wagner: “ We often listen to the radio because times are uncertain and like a small country who adjoin with Germany we don’t feel safe.” The Nazis concentrate the Jews to occupied Poland in special ghettos where they live pressed under catastrophic conditions and they suffer with lack of food. Thousands of men, women and children died there. At the end the majority of Polish Jews from ghettos are sent to concentration camps where they are killed by them.
Nela WAR !
On the first of September 1939 Otto and Edith heard bad news, the German army invaded Poland. France and the United Kingdom promptly declared war against Germany, but they didn’t provide any military assistance to Poland. The Soviet army invaded Poland from the east. Based on a secret treaty, Germany and the Soviet union divided Poland. Otto and Edith consider: If the Netherlands remains neutral, how long will they be safe in Amsterdam? Will they manage to escape in time? Before the outbreak of the war, Otto Frank with his family wanted to leave the Netherlands. In 1937 he wanted to establish a company in the United Kingdom, but he failed. In 1938 he asked the US consulate in Rotterdam about emigration to the United Kingdom. From April 1941 he was repeatedly trying to get to the USA with help of his old friends from studies, the Americans Nathan Strauss, Julius and Walter Hollanders. At this moment, there is still a chance that they will succeed because the USA hadn’t joined the war yet.
Soňa In 1941, a gloomy atmosphere prevailed in the occupied Holland. There were daily disputes between Jews and socialists. There were hundreds of arrests and murders of Jews. People therefore began to protest. It didn't take long for the Nazis to suppress the riots. On June 22, 1941, the German army attacked the Soviet Union. They advanced very quickly and occupied a large area. After the summer holidays in 1941, the Nazis forced Jewish students to attend only Jewish schools. For this reason, Anna and Margot changed for a Jewish lyceum founded for this purpose. In the autumn, public spaces were filled with the inscriptions "Jews are not allowed to enter". They were not allowed to play sports in public or be part of sports clubs. Anna was very angry and disappointed and in the winter of 1941 and 1942 they were not even allowed to skate. Her parents didn't have it easy either. They had enough of their problems. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the US Navy. For the Franks, this meant the end of the hope of emigrating to the USA.
Jana Anna was given a diary for her 13th birthday. She was excited about it because she had wanted a journal for a long time. In May 1942, the Nazis came up with the fact that every Jew from the age of six must wear a star with the inscription "Jew" on his clothes. Anna and Margot received a certificate a few days later. Anna was happy with him, except for mathematics, which she didn't like very much. Her sister Margot had an excellent certificate. Their holidays began. Their parents are afraid that all Jews will be sent to labour camps in Nazi Germany. On January 20, 1942, the Nazis negotiated a system for the murder of all European Jews.
Jozef On Sunday, July 5, 1942, a police officer arrived with official summons for Margot Frank. Otto and Edith thought it was very suspicious. And so they decided to go to a hiding place. Anna packed also her diary. Otto and Edith were preparing an empty part of the company premises. They prepared also a room for the family of van Pels. Miep Geis, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler a Bep Voskuijil agreed to help. Together with Johannes Kleiman and with his brother Willy, Otto moved meat, furniture and other important things to that hiding place.
Dominik Tension and despair Anna and the others in the hiding place did normal things like, study, read and have fun just in their hideout. Even if they were having fun, there were arguments but also there was a fear of being discovered by the nazis. The Dutch resistance against the Nazis was a glimmer of hope for all in the hideout. Anna convinced herself that she would remember all the heroic acts by all who fought against the Nazis. Fortunately only a small percent of the Dutch were on the bad side Anna wrote in her diary, but in reality 25 thousand Dutch were fighting for the Nazis.
Remus On Friday, the 4th of August 1944 at 10:30am a car stops in front of the building at Prinsengracht 263 street. A senior SS Oberscharfuhrer Karl Josef Silberbauer and several Dutch police officers stepped out of the car. The hiding place in the back of the house someone betrayed. Whoever did it, we never managed to find the perpetrator. The police will arrest all eight hiding people as well as their two assistants, Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler. Silberbauer emptied the briefcase he had found in the back house and filled it with jewelry and valuables. Letters from Anne’s diary scatter on the ground. All arrested people ended up in the prison in Amsterdam.
Lucas On the night of September 5th - 6th 1944, the Franks and Fritz Pfeffer families arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau,the concentration camp. Right on the ramp, they were divided into men and women. It was the last time they saw their father. Almost everyone from the train was sent to the gas chambers and those who survived had to work hard under non-human conditions.The Nazis built hundreds of concetration camps in Germany where the prisoners from ouccupied countries had to work hard.Thousands of innocent people died from hard work exhaustion and diseases. The camps, such as Bergen-Belsen, had appalling hygiene and hunger, and there were extermination camps where prisoners were murdered in gas chambers upon arrival.
Sára Secret hiding place In July 1945 Otto founds out that his wife and both daughters had died. When he told the terrible news to Miep, she gave him Anne´s diary that she had kept the whole time. She and Bep found Anne´s diary right after Anne was arrested. Otto is not able to read the diary at first. His pain and sadness were too strong. “I had no idea how deep were her thoughts and feelings.”, he said after he finally started reading it. After Otto´s friends red the diary they convinced him to publish it as a book. It was firstly published in 1947. From 1960 people can also visit the place where Anne Frank was hiding.
Diana lessons from the past After the publishion of the book “The back house” in Dutch, editions in other languages have also been published. Anne became the most famous victim of the Holocaust, so things like theatrical play, film, schools and streets were named after her. She was one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who fell as a victim to the Nazis. Italian writer and philosopher Primo Levi who survived the Holocaust, wrote: “One single Anne Frank affects us more than countless of those who suffered just like her. Maybe it has to be that way: if we were to endure the suffering of every human being, we could not live.” There are thousands of monuments, museums and organisations around the world like persecution of Jews or suffering in World War II. Otto Frank dedicated his life after the war to reconciliation and human rights. In 1970 he said in an interview: “We can't change what happened. However, we can learn from the past and realize what discrimination and persecution can not be done to innocent people. I think we all have a duty to fight prejudice“
Devoted to all eight people who found the shelter there and their friends who helped them ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
Their lives should not be forgotten Their suffering should be warning for next generations All wars should be stopped We all should live without prejudice and Discrimination should not have room in our behaviour