Background Anne Frank and her family were Jewish citizens of Germany. When the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, came to power in 1933, the Nazis blamed the country’s problems on the Jews. Jews were stripped of their rights. Many were eventually sent to concentration camps, where more than 6 million died in what became known as the Holocaust. The Franks moved to the Netherlands to escape persecution, but the Nazis invaded that country in 1940. In order to survive, Anne’s family went into hiding when she was 13 years old. They hid in attic rooms behind Mr. Frank’s office, and several other Jews joined them. In this “Secret Annex,” Anne kept a diary about her life in hiding. More than two years later, the group’s worst fears came true when the Nazis found them. Everyone who had been living there was sent to concentration camps. Anne’s diary was discovered later.
Frances Goodrich (1890–1984)and Albert Hackett (1900–1995) were a married couple who worked together to write screenplays for movies. They wrote the play called The Diary of Anne Frank based on Anne’s actual diary entries. Although the play differs from the diary in many ways, Anne’s father, who survived the Holocaust, believed it captured the essence of his daughter’s diary. The play won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was later made into a movie.
SETTING A PURPOSE As you read, think about what the play reveals about Anne Frank’s philosophy of life. How are her thoughts communicated?