"People will always follow a good example; be the one to set a good example, then it won't be long before the others follow...How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway...And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!"
(Anne Frank, March 26th 1944, from her story "Give!")
While in hiding Anne Frank keeps a diary. In more than two years she fills several notebooks. At the end of the hiding period Anne rewrites her diary notebooks with the intention to make a book from them, that can be published after the war has ended. In 1947 Otto Frank has the diaries of his deceased daughter published. "The Diary of Anne Frank" is one of the most widely read books in the world.
On her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, Anne receives her favorite gift, the original red and white checkered diary. She makes her first entry that very day, expressing the hope that she will be able to confide completely in her diary and that it will be a great support and comfort to her. During the subsequent weeks she reports about her birthday, about her fellow students and events at the Jewish Lyceum (academic high school) and about the few fun things that Jewish youngsters were still allowed to enjoy that spring. Early July 1942, Margot, Anne's sixteen year old sister, receives a call to report "for labor in Germany". The next day, the whole Frank family goes into hiding on the upper floors of the back quarters of 263 Prinsengracht, Mr. Frank's business premises. Mr. Frank had made sure that, in name, the firm would no longer belong to him. Soon the Franks will share their hiding place with the Van Pels family and, a little later, dentist Pfeffer will join them.
The first weeks in hiding are so difficult for lively little Anne, that she cannot even write about it in her diary. Late September, after reading one of her favorite books, Cissy van Marxveldt's "Joop ter Heul", which is written as a series of letters, Anne adopts the idea of addressing her future diary entries to members of an imaginary club of girl friends, of whom Kitty is dearest to her. These diary letters are, in part, childlike and gushy. They contain allusions to figures and situations from "Joop ter Heul", some riddles and jokes, but also Anne's day dreams and remarks about her reading and about her experiences in hiding. Between these letters, addressed to fictional persons, there are two for her real friend, Jacqueline (van Maarsen). They were, of course, never sent.
By the end of 1942, the original checkered diary was full except for a few open spots. Anne subsequently filled a number of notebooks with her diary letters. Not all of these notebooks have been saved. Hence, it is not known when Anne decided to direct her letters exclusively to Kitty. We do know, however, that prompted by a call over Radio Orange from London by the Dutch Secretary of Education, Culture and Sciences in exile, Anne resolves during the spring of 1944 to rewrite her original diary entries in order to publish them after the war. May 20, 1944, she starts her thorough revision and, in ten weeks, she manages to fill 324 loose pages with her careful rewrite. In the Critical Edition, the original text is called the a-version; the rewritten text the b-version.
Anne's Diary Incomplete.
How Important are the Five Withheld Pages?
Laureen Nussbaum
The recent emergence of five hitherto unknown pages written by Anne Frank has once again focused attention on her diary. Despite the fact that the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation had unravelled the history of Anne's diary in "The Critical Edition" (Dutch 1986, English 1989) and had printed all available texts in parallel, readers are confused. This is partly due to Mirjam Pressler's so called "Definitive Edition" of 1995 in which the strands, that had been so carefully separated in the Critical Edition, were once again tangled. A brief review of the different versions of Anne Frank's journal may be helpful in establishing a context for the five complementary pages.
The first translation of the diary of Anne Frank came out in the German language in 1950. English translations for England and the United States followed in 1952. Since then the diary has been published in at least 60 countries. he diary has also appeared in a number of linguistic variants, such as a Portuguese version for Brazil.
The following list is a reflection of the languages the Anne Frank House has in its possession. A great part can be seen in the museum and the library of the Anne Frank House. Publications of the diary are authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel.
Afrikaans-: Het Achterhuis : dagboekbrieven : 14 juni 1942-1 augustus 1944
Arabian: Yawmiyyat Anna
Armenian: Anna Franki oragire
Assamese: En phrankara dayeri (Assam is a federal state of India)
Bengali: Ayan phrankera dayari
Bulgarian: Zadnata kasta : dnevnikovi pisma, 14 juni 1942-1 avgust 1944
Burmese: Mon tha ka mhat tam
Catalan: Diari d'Anna Frank
Chinese: Shaonü riji
Croatian: Dnevenik Ane Frank
Czech: Denik Anne Frankové
Danish: Anne Frank's dagbog
Dutch: Het Achterhuis : dagboekbrieven 14 juni 1942-1 augustus 1944
English: The Diary of Anne Frank
Estonian-: Anne Franki päevik, 12. VI 1942-1. VIII 1944
Finnish: Nuoren tytön päiväkirja
French: Journal de Anne Frank
Frisian: It Achterhűs : 14 juny 1942-1 augustus 1944 : deiboekbrieven
Georgian: Dgiuri : 12 ivnisi 1942-1 agvisto 1944
German: Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank : 12. Juni 1942-1. August 1944
Greek: To Hemerologio tes Annas
Greenlandic: Anne Frankip uvdlorsiutai
Hebrew: Yomanah sel narah : 14 beuyuni 1942-1 beavgust 1944
Hongarian: Anne Frank naplója Icelandic: Dagbók Önnu Frank Indonesian: Buku harian Anne Italian: Diario Japanese: Anne no nikki Kazach: Tutkin qiz siri : Anna Frank kündeligi Korean: Anne-ui ilgi Latvian: Annas Frankas dienasgramata Lithuanian: Ana Frank : dienorastis Macedonian: Dnevnikot na Ana Frank Mala-yalam: Oru penkitavinre dayarikkuripukkal (Spoken in Southwest India) Nepalese: Ena phremkako daeri Norwegian: Anne Franks dagbok Persian: Katirat-i yak duktar-i gawan Polish: Dziennik Portuguese: O diário de Anne Romanian: Jurnalul Annei Frank, 12 iunie 1942-1 august 1944 Russian: Ubč~zisce: dnevnik v pismach Serbian: Dnevnik Ane Frank Serbo-Croatian-: Dnevnik Ane Frank, od 12 juna 1942-1 avgusta 1944 Slovakian: Denník Anny Frankovej, 12. júna 1942-1. augusta 1944 Slovenian: Dnevnik Ane Spanish: Diario Swedish: Anne Franks dagbok Thai: Khan thyg khong Enn Frengk Turkish: Anne Frank'in hâtira defteri Ukrainian: Stodennyk Welsh-: Dyddiadur Anne Yiddisch: Ana Franks togbukh : 12 juni 1942-1 oygust 1944(text from the Anne Frank House site.)
