Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt and during the Nazi regime she hid with her family in an annex in Amsterdam. It is difficult not to over-sentimentalize or revere the writings of a young girl who suffered the tortures of isolation and died of typhus in the Nazi concentration camps before her sixteenth birthday. When she was thirteen Anne Frank received a diary for as a birthday present, weeks before she and her family would have to hide in an annex in Amsterdam for more than two years. Anne’s early diary entry shows writing in the diary was more than just chronicling for the young girl with journalism ambitions, it was her method of coping with the claustrophobic, quarrelsome, conditions she endured with her sister, parents, another family and a dentist who disliked Anne’s energy:
“I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”
It is doubtful Ms. Frank understood the significance of this early passage in her diary. Just a few weeks later she would write:
“Oh, I am so glad I brought you along!”
As we explore the diary of Anne Frank we see she used it for more than just her thoughts and her comfort. She used it as a recollection and memory. She pasted bits and pieces of items into the diary and would write her comments beside them. Truly, the diary must have become her sole existence, her only place of privacy and true happiness in light of the conditions in which she lived. Anne like any other girl her age must have missed her friends and we see that the diary also serves this function for the girl forced into hiding. She names the diary Kitty and addresses many letters to her imaginary friend. At times, it seems as if the young writer is aware of the fact that she is escaping from reality through the use of her diary. We n
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