This weekend in Amsterdam,
I walked over one canal after another, was almost killed by at least nine
aggressive bikers, marveled at the works of Rembrandt Master of Light, and had
my first taste of Indonesian food. Amsterdam is a beautiful place, rich with
history and culture and dripping with vibrant, interesting people. But there is
a sadness to this great city that lurks beneath the waters. As I walked the cobblestone streets
between townhouses sagging under the weight of lush window boxes, I couldn’t
help but think of a girl who walked them long before me.
 |
| Kelly Young |
Most people in the world
have probably heard of Anne Frank; many know her story or have read the famous
diary she kept during the Second World War as she hid from the Nazis in
Amsterdam. However, Anne’s writing is more than a means of understanding the
life of those in hiding during the Holocaust – Anne also wrote her own fiction:
fairy stories and an unfinished novel which she hoped to publish after the war.
A young girl who often wondered if she was any good at writing, Anne’s
experience of the Holocaust has been translated into 70 languages.
The Frank family planned
to go into hiding as conditions in Amsterdam became increasingly difficult for Jews. Their plans were rushed in 1942 when
Anne’s sister Margot received a letter requesting her to report to a labor camp.
The family hid in a secret annex behind the offices of Anne’s father, Otto
Frank, at 263 Prinsengracht—together with the van Pels family and Fritz
Pfeffer—until August of 1944. At
this time they were discovered by the Gestapo and taken first to the Westerbork
Transit Camp and then on to Auschwitz. Anne and Margot were later transported
to Bergen-Belsen, where they died before the liberation. After the war, Otto
Frank returned to his offices and the secret annex, where he retrieved Anne’s
many writings.
 |
| Kelly Young |
Anne left behind a legacy
of words: five notebooks and over 300 loose pages composed of short stories,
essays, fairy tales, an unfinished novel, and, of course, her diary. Anne called her stories her “pen
children”. In 1943 she began to neatly copy her writings into a notebook in which
she included a formal table of contents. Among her writings were an essay
entitled “Give”, condemning the way people favored the rich and stately, and a
story called “Eva’s Dream,” which Anne considered her best fairy tale. It is
incontestable that she is one of the best-known writers in the history of
Europe. And all this from the pages of a thirteen-year-old girl.
In fact, it was perhaps Anne’s
writing that gave her the strength to go on in the tiny space she was forced to
occupy during the years in hiding. As Anne wrote, “I can shake off everything
when I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn!”
When I walked through the
rooms of the secret annex, I felt the hushed footsteps of the eight people who
walked them seventy years ago. I marveled at the pasted pictures of movie stars
glued to the old wallpaper in Anne’s bedroom. I ran my fingers over the faucet
in the kitchen, wondering how many times Anne poured herself a glass of water.
I stepped through the wooden bookcase that served as a hidden entrance into the
annex, and I touched the handle that Anne touched on so many occasions. But
mostly I felt the presence of her words. Anne left behind more than empty rooms
and movie star pictures. She left notebooks and pages filled with non-fiction and
fiction that have gone out into the world and given us all a piece of her
personal thoughts:
“…in spite of everything I
still believe people are really good at heart.”
Sources:
By Kelly Young
