Today In History: Anne Frank's Last Diary Entry

Tuesday, 1 August, 1944

Dear Kitty,

"Little bundle of contradictions."  That's how I ended my last letter and that's how I am going to begin this one. " A little bundle of contradictions," can you tell me exactly what that is? What does contradiction mean? Like so many words, it can mean two things, contradiction from without and contradiction from within.

The first is the ordinary "not giving in easily, always knowing best, getting in the last word," enfin, all the unpleasant qualities for which I'm renowned. The second nobody knows about, that's my own secret.

-- Opening paragraph to the last entry in The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank (pp.289-290)

Anne Frank's wish "to go on living even after her death" came true, despite the last entry in her diary, affectionately known as "Kitty", on August 1st, 1944. The Diary of a Young Girl, began on June 14th, 1942, when its author was but thirteen years old and in hiding with her Jewish family from the Nazi regime. The Franks were joined by Mr and Mrs. Van Daan, their son Peter, and dentist Mr. Dussel  in the "Secret Annexe" -- living quarters in an abandoned office building in Amsterdam -- until the Gestapo discovered them two years later. A remarkably intelligent, observant, and sensitive girl, Anne's account of their daily lives and deepening connections was published in 1947 after her tragic death in the Bergen-Balson concentration camp. Anne's diary, complete in itself, is described by Eleanor Roosevelt as "one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that [she had] ever read" -- a story of eight people "living in constant fear and isolation, imprisoned not only be the terrible outward circumstances of war but inwardly by themselves" which made her "intimately and shockingly aware of war's greatest evil -- the degradation of the human spirit" (p. 7, Introduction).

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Fremantle, A. (1958, Sep 28). Unwritten Pages at the End of the Diary: Anne Frank: A Portrait in Courage. New York Times (1923-)
• Steinbach, A. (1979, Jun 12). Anne Frank: Awakening to Life, Premonition of Death. The Sun (1837-) 
• Otto Frank, Father of Diarist Anne Frank. (1980, Aug 21). Newsday (1940-) 
• Shoup, M. (1981, Jan 04). You Won't Forget Anne Frank's Home. Boston Globe (1960-) 
• Stevens, G., Jr. (1986, Dec 22). Diary Of a Visit to the Anne Frank House. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995) 
• Montgomery, P. (1989, Jun 18). Drafting an Epilogue to Anne Frank's Diary: Anne Frank. New York Times (1923-) 
• Legacy of a Heroine. (1991, Oct 15). The Guardian (1959-2003) 
• Deutsche, P. A. (1995, Feb 04). Anne Frank's Moving Legacy Remembered. The Times of India (1861-2010) 
• Arthur, M. (2004, Jun 13). Photo Exhibit Marks Birthday of Anne Frank: Candid Family Snapshots Depict Happy Prewar Life. The Washington Post (1974-) 
• Rothstein, E. (2013, Oct 14). Playing Cat and Mouse with Searing History. New York Times (1923-) 

Tips:

• Barnouw, David, and Jeannette K. Ringold. The Phenomenon of Anne Frank. Trans. Jeannette K. Ringold. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2012. e-book
• Frank, Anne, B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Anne Frank : the Diary of a Young Girl. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1967. Closed Stacks CURR ; D810.J4 F715 1967
• Folman, Ari, David Polonsky, and Anne Frank. Anne Frank’s Diary : the Graphic Adaptation. First edition. New York: Pantheon Books, 2018.  Curriculum ; DS135.N6 F731865 2018
• McDonough, Yona Zeldis., and Malcah. Zeldis. Anne Frank. First edition. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997. Curriculum ; DS135.N6 F7349 1997
• Wolf, Diane L. Beyond Anne Frank Hidden Children and Postwar Families in Holland. Berkeley, Calif. ;: University of California Press, 2007.  e-book

Image:

Anne Frank House Model, by Alexisrael, Courtesy Wikimedia Commons