Anne Frank's World
Anne
Frank in the World: 1929-1945,
compiled by the Anne Frank House,
Random House; 2001; $20.99
by Alden Oreck
In Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945, the
Anne Frank House has produced a compendium of photographs telling her
heroic story. This unique work, designed for younger audiences (grades
7 and up), puts pictures to the life of perhaps the most famous Holocaust victim. Although Anne Frank perished at age 15 in 1945 in a Nazi concentration
camp, her memory, her short and tragic life, remain with us through
her legendary diary and the photographs of this book which not only
capture proud family portraits of the Franks, but also more somber scenes
of the rise of Nazism and its terrible effects.
By looking at the photographs, Anne appeared to have
a happy childhood, with scenes of her on the beach and playing with
friends. However, darkness lingered on the horizon. In 1933, Hitler became absolute ruler of Germany and began instituting oppressive measures against Jews. Anne Frank
in the World: 1929-1945 shows pictures of burning synagogues, Jewish
shopkeepers sweeping up after Kristallnacht and Jewish World War One veterans proudly display their war medals as
they face discrimination amid signs and posters of anti-Jewish propaganda.
Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945 gives haunting
scenes of Nazis rounding up and deporting Jews, sending them to concentration
camps. In 1942, Anne Frank and her family hid in what they called the
Secret Annex in Amsterdam, until their discovery by an SS agent in 1944. The Nazis split up the Frank family, sending Anne and her sister Margot to disease
ridden Bergen-Belsen, where,
tragically, they both died within a year.
Anne Frank in the World: 1929-1945 tells the
unforgettable story of Anne Frank and the events surrounding her life
through more than 225 photographs revealing what she saw as a young
woman growing up in the 1930s and 40s in Europe amidst Nazism. The book
concludes with daunting pictures of contemporary hate organizations
such as the Ku Klux Klan,
neo-Nazis and other hate groups, reminding us that intolerance still
plagues us.
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