Anne Frank's diary, published as The Diary of a Young Girl (Het Achterhuis, 1947), is one of the most moving accounts of personal courage to come out of World War II. It records the invincible spirit of a young Jewish girl who endured many of the horrors of war and who died a tragic death before the age of 16.
The diary of Anne Frank is an account of her experiences while hiding from German troops during the war. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, the Frank family and four other people were hidden by Christian friends in a tiny apartment at the rear of an Amsterdam office building. For two years, Anne recorded the fears and emotional conflicts of people crowded together in secrecy. However, much of the diary describes humorous or joyful moments, including birthday celebrations and her first experience of falling in love. Many of the passages concern Anne's growing up, the discoveries she makes about herself and other people, and the beauty of life.
Anne and the others in the group were discovered in 1944 and shipped to Westerbork prison in the Netherlands. After another move to Auschwitz concentration camp, the Franks were separated. Anne was sent to Bergen-Belsen, where she died of typhus. Her diary was made into a Pulitzer Prize play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett in 1956 and into a motion picture in 1959.
