What fifteen girls have changed history forever? Not many fifteen-year old girls have, but Anne Frank did. It was just an average day at the annex. Everyone was doing the usual, which was quietly reading, studying, or sewing. The annex residents had to be very quiet today. The workers would come at 8:00. The owner of the building, William van Maaren was very suspicious, and he could come at any time. Anne heads off to her day dreaming, wondering about her friends and the other Jews. In a way, Anne feels lucky, however. Miep has told her that the other Jews in hiding have no beds, and often very little to eat. After day dreaming, Anne heads off to her room, and writes to her diary, Kitty. Kitty was a gift that Anne got on the day that she turned thirteen. Anne writes to Kitty often, but she always keeps her hidden. Now it is 10:30 and men appear, only they are armed. These men are Nazis, or SS Men for short. These men walk swiftly through the building, stopping at the bookshelf. “Open up,” they yell. Miep quickly rushes to the bookshelf to see if her friends have been discovered. “We know that you are in, open up!” Finally, the SS Men push the door open. The first person that they see is Edith Frank, Anne’s mother. The SS Men pull everyone out. They explain what is going to happen, ”You have only five minutes to get ready, then you will go to Westerbork. The SS Men take all of the family’s money. One German sees Anne’s diary, but throws it on the floor. The binding of Kitty breaks, and all of the pages come out. “No!” Anne screams, ”Not my diary! If it goes, I go with it!” Anne still manages to stay somewhat calm. Only Margot is crying. When everyone is gone, Miep picks up the diary, but she does not read it. “I will save it for Anne when she comes back from the war,” she thinks. Anne Frank was born to Edith and Otto Frank on June 12, 1929. She was born at the Woman’s Clinic, located in Frankfort Germany. Margot, Anne’s older sister was three at the time. When Margot came to visit, everyone thought that she would be jealous. Margot only laughed. The twenty inches long, and eight and one half pounds baby had “such big ears!” Margot was also surprised to hear that her sister, “infant Frank” had been recorded as a boy. Margot could not stay very long; Anne had started throwing a tantrum. Anne was not an easy child to take care of. She cried a lot, and kept her parents awake for many nights. She was, not very healthy, either. She had difficulty breathing, but her cries made Edith confident. After twelve days of being in the hospital, it was time for Anne to go home to a small apartment in Frankfort, Germany. Anne slept in Margot’s old doll cradle. Anne also got some small blankets. Margot and Gertrude, her friend loved to play with Anne. Gertrude was six. Margot and Gertrude were still close. Gertrude was very good with children. She would hold and feed Anne often. This was fine by both Edith and Otto. After being in Germany for a little while, it was time to move. The family chose to move to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The move was sometime in March 1931, but no one knows for sure. The family settled in a small community, called Ganghoferstrase. One of the main reasons for the move was the anti-Jewish law. The discrimination was growing, especially in Germany. Although Anne and Margot knew little what was going on in the world, their parents did. They knew that Germany was not a safe place for Jews to be, especially sense their neighbor was an early Nazi spy. Very few families were trying to get visas, and the Franks were one of them. Did the Franks really want to go to America or Switzerland? For Otto, the answer was no. Instead, he chose to take chances, and move to the Netherlands. Little did he know what would later happen. After the arrival in the Netherlands, Margot was sent to school. Every day, Margot came home with a wonderful story about school. Anne was very lonely, but after having to beg and complain Otto signed her up. It was not long before Anne became popular. She made friends with Hannah Glosher, the girl who lived next door to Anne. Anne was also able to do something strange. She could dislocate her elbow, then pop it back in. Just because Anne was popular with the kids, did not mean that she was popular with the adults. Seldom did she go to the synagogue, and when she did she made a big show. [She was about six when she did this.] Hannah’s mother once said of Anne,” God knows all, Anne knows more.” Anne continued to live a semi-normal life. Otto and Edith listened to the radio, but Anne just played. Anne continued to be popular, and drove Margot and her friends nuts. Anne also had an American pen pal. Her name was Juanita. Anne wrote to Juanita in Dutch, then her father helped her translate it in English. By the time that Juanita wrote back, Anne was already in hiding. Anne knew that bad things were happening to the Jews, but she did not know just how bad things were. The SS Men were burning synagogues, and destroying shops that Jewish people owned. Anne was aware of the roundups, however. She knew that Jews could not be out at night past their “curfew”, which was 8:00 p.m. If Jews were on the streets past their “curfew”, they could be taken to an early Concentration Camp, such as Sachsenhausen. Most people did not worry about the roundups. They only worried that Germany was going to take over the Netherlands. That, people thought would never happen. On May 10, 1940, German planes were high over the Netherlands. How scary it was to think that these planes would take over the Netherlands! The Dutch Government was not ready for this. Germany had been sending warnings on when they would attack. They had sent twenty-nine warnings, and they had all been false alarms. Who would have thought that Germany would actually take over the Netherlands! It was then, one May 10,1940, that Anne began to realize the growing dangers. School was canceled, and people were committing suicide. The queen of the Netherlands had even moved to England. Anne was not the only one to realize the growing dangers, but all of the Netherlands seemed to wake up. Everyone was trying to get visas. Unlike many families, the Franks did not try to get them. The Frank’s cousins had offered to take Anne and Margot to England until the war was over. The Franks refused; they wanted to stay with their kids. There were lots of changes for the people living in the Netherlands. The curfew was just one of the many. Jews could not own bikes, or visit non-Jews. They could not ride the streetcar. Jews also had to wear the yellow Star of David pinned to their clothes. The purpose of this star was to set Jews apart from the other people. With all of these new changes, it was hard to enjoy life, but Anne and her friends tried. Anne and her friends went to the movies. Anne’s favorite was Rin Tin Tin, a movie about a dog. Anne and her friends also formed a club. The group met behind an old office building. The members were Anne, Hannah, and Susan. Anne also loved to read. Her favorite book was Joop ter Heul. Anne and one of her friends, Jacque spent hours reading it. Joop ter Heul was about Joop, a girl with a boy’s name. In the book, Joop was just a normal girl, but she was very popular. She had many friends. Her best friend, however was Kitty. Joop loved be with her friends, but when her father would not let her be with her friends, Joop began to keep a secret diary. As Anne read this, she was not aware that Joop’s life would become much like her life. On Friday, June 12, 1942, Anne woke up very early, at 6:00. “I could hardly sleep, but no wonder, it was my birthday!” Anne would later say. At 7:00, Anne flew down the stairs, and started opening her presents. She received lots of presents, much more than she had expected. But “The first to greet me, and possibly the nicest of all my diary." Anne’s diary was very nice. It was really an autograph book, but it also made a remarkable diary. The diary was plaid, and had a tiny gold lock. Soon after her birthday, Anne started writing to her diary. About a week after Anne had received her diary, Margot was summoned to go to a German work camp. The letter came addressed to Margot. Margot was not home, so Otto and Edith read the letter. They were in state of shock. Margot was to report to the camp at 8:00 the next morning. With her, she needed to take two blankets, one towel, a plate, a cup, a spoon, winter shoes, socks, a pair of overalls, and an undershirt. Otto and Edith did not tell Margot that she had been summoned. Instead, they said that Otto had been summoned. They did not want to upset Margot, but they knew that they had to make plans. Edith went over to the van Pells’ house. There, they discussed what would happen. The Franks would go into hiding the next day, July 6, 1942. The van Pells family would come into hiding a week later. When the day came, Miep came to get Margot. Both of them rode bikes to the secret annex. [The annex was on the top floor of an old office building] Miep quickly shoved Margot in, then went back to get the rest of the family. Everyone had to be careful. The Franks could not take luggage. If they did, someone may be able to tell that they were going into hiding. Otto had also come up with an idea that would through the SS Men off track. He would leave a fake address scribbled on a piece of paper. Hopefully, the SS Men would think that they had managed to escape to Switzerland. As soon as the family had arrived, Otto and Anne wanted to get settled. They wanted to through away the trash, and set up the beds. They could not move furniture around, however. They would have to wait until the night, when everyone had left. If they moved it now, people could hear them. The annex or the hiding place had been in the making for almost a year. The annex was small, but it had many rooms including a bathroom and a kitchen. The bathroom had real running water. Unfortunately, the water was only cold, but it was better than nothing was. The Franks and the van Pells would have helpers, too. One of the most known helpers was Miep Gies, but there were other helpers, too. These helpers included Bep Voskugi and Johannes Kleiman. A week later, Miep brought the van Pells family to the annex. From the moment Anne saw Mrs. Van Pells, she knew she did not like her. Mrs. van Pells felt the same way, too. She did not like Anne for her attitude. Anne did not like Mrs. van Pells for her bossiness. How could they ever live together? It would be hard, but they did. It was not long before life in the annex became a routine. Everyone had learned to walk and talk quietly, and to keep the secret radio at a low volume. All of the annex residents also loved to read. They read everything from books to the newspaper that Miep gave them. Anne, Margot and Peter, the son of Mrs. and Mr. Van Pells still had to study hard. They had to study from 10:00 to noon, but sometimes chose to study longer. They did most of the same things that their class old mates were doing. Anne desperately missed her old life. She longed for friends, to laugh, cry, and be popular. How she wanted to have her old life back. She wanted to be the center of attention, but in the annex. That seemed impossible to do. Anne also missed nature. In her old home, she had taken nature for granted. Now, she missed it more than ever. She could not even look out the window; there was cardboard over it so that no one could see it. In a way, Anne and the other annex residents were lucky; they never got very sick. There were a few cases of the flu, but never anything serious. That was good because the annex residents could never leave the annex. After a little over a year into hiding, a new person joined the annex. His name was Fritz Preffer. Mr. Preffer was a married dentist, and had a small child. His wife and son however, were in England. Anne did not like Fritz Preffer. One of the main reasons for this was because she had to share a room with him. This decision that Edith and Otto made proved one thing; they did not understand her growing need for privacy. There were some good things about life in the annex. One of them was taking a bath. They could not take a bath in the actual part of the annex, but the office had many baths. Once the workers left, every one went downstairs, then took a bath. While all of this was going on, people were starting to be suspicious, especially William Genared van Maaren. He was new to the office. He was always snooping around, and asking questions. His questions were all answered when he saw Mr. van Pell’s wallet. He knew that Mr. van Pells was Jewish; and had been missing for almost two years. Van Maaren probably told his friend, Lamert Hartlog. He then told his wife, Leana Hartlog. Leana Hartlog was going through hard times; her son who was in the German Navy had died. On August 4, 1944, the German headquarters received a call. Eight Jews were hiding in an old office building. The call was very specific. It was an anonymous call, but people said that it was a woman’s voice. After the arrest, the annex residents were taken to Westerbork. Anne liked being at Westerbork. She adored nature once more, and loved meeting strangers. After having to live in the annex for so long, Westerbork was not that awful. It was not a surprise that Anne liked Westerbork; it had everything from it’s own currency to a movie theater. Westerbork was a transit camp. That meant that Jews went there before they went to other camps. After being in Westerbork for about a week, Jews would find their names on the roll call. The roll call was taken often, and if you were on it, you would be transported to a new camp. After being in Westerbork for six weeks, Anne heard her name on the roll call. This roll call would take the entire Annex to a new camp. The camp that they would be going to was called Auschwitz, also known as he death camp. As soon as the passengers saw the train, they were shocked. They would take a cattle car to Auschwitz. Anne was the most surprised of them all. She had taken a third class passenger train to Westerbork. Once inside the train, Anne was also horrified. The smell was bad, and the train was damp. There were no chairs, just hay. Lucky people could lean against a friend or a wall. The passengers were given no food of water. Still, the train trudged along. Once at the camp, the men and woman were separated. This was the last Otto saw of his family. After the men and woman were separated, they were separated again. This process was called “selection”. If you were old, sick, or a young child, you went to the left. Healthy people fifteen and older were sent to the right. All of the annex residents were sent to the right. The left side would die that day. The right side would be forced to do hard labor. After the groups were made, the people on the right had to have all of their hair shaved off. This was to prevent lice, and to embarrass women. After that, everyone was tattooed with a number. Anne and Margot were tattooed with a number somewhere between A25060-A5271, but no one knows for sure. The camp had stopped keeping records. After the tattooing, everyone had to take a shower. Sometimes, poisonous gasses came out. Other times, the water was freezing or scalding hot. After the shower, the prisoners were given small silk like dresses, way too cold for the winter. Then, a roll call was done. This was a routine, and was repeated weekly. Life at Auschwitz was horrible. Still, the prisoners felt lucky; they had passed the selection process. Yet, many people died. Many people were gassed, or died of an illness. Other people were used for science experiments. The prisoners had to work hard. Margot and Anne had the job of taking apart batteries. All they were given were some batteries, and a small chisel. No soap, or even water. With out soap or water, this job was gross. All of the things from the batteries got on the workers hands, and there was no way to get it off. The prisoners could still talk to people however. They felt lucky to do this. It was not long before Anne’s body began to weaken. Anne’s cheeks were sunken, and she had Scabies. Scabies was very contagious. Anne had missed a roll call because she was sick, but now it was time for another roll call. This time, Anne would go to Bergin-Belson, a Polish camp. Anne would go to Bergin-Belson with Margot, and Mrs. Van Pells. Edith would not go on the train. She was too sick. Edith would later die about a week after the train left. Anne knew what to expect of the cattle cars, only this time she was surprised. The prisoners were given mall amounts of food. The train went from Germany to Poland, only stopping so that the SS men could get food. The prisoners were amazed when they reached Bergin-Belson, no selection of gas chambers. Yet, many people still died. As Anne would later find out, the camp was in awful condition. There was no space in Bergin-Belson for the new prisoners, so temporary tents were put up. Anne Margot and the other people living in the tents had to sleep on the cold, damp ground. The tents also provided little protection; they flew away in the wind. Eventually, Anne and Margot were moved to the barracks closest to the door. By now, it was winter. How cold they must have been! Anne continued to worry. What about her friends? What had happened to Otto? Anne had lost much of her health worrying about Otto. Had she known he was alive, she probably would have lived. One of her questions however was answered. Anne met Hannah at Bergin-Belson. Hanah was in a special barrack because she was an “exchange Jew. ”They could only meet through a barbed wire fence, but Hannah had been able to through three packages over to Anne. Two Anne caught, but the other, a woman ran off with. After meeting Hannah, Anne died. She died about two weeks after Margot. [Margot had died in late February, and Anne died in early March, perhaps even March 9.] What would have happened if Anne had known her father was alive? Would she have lived? If she had lived, would we have her diary? One could only guess at these answers. Anne however is not just known for her diary. Millions of people have first met Anne through the Anne Frank Center U.S.A, also known as the AFCUSA. AFCUSA is very important. It helps prevent discrimination through the story of Anne Frank. The center has many workshops, and even a museum. AFCUSA also gives out the Anne Frank Awards. These awards are given out in three groups: youth, educator, and an outstanding citizen. To win the award, you must have helped to prevent discrimination. The AFCUSA is trying to get Hillary Clinton to speak at the next ceremony. There are many other things in memory of Anne Frank. They include a Broadway play and a movie. Anne has also “stared” in a movie that won an academy award. The movie is called Anne Frank Remembered, and stars Anne and other survivors, including Miep Gies, Hannah, and Jacque. Although Anne is not living, the movie still “stars” her. The movie is filled with photos, and the only moving picture of Anne. Not only has Anne gone to Hollywood, but she also has a biography. This biography is called Anne Frank, The Biography, and was written by Melissa Muller. The book talks about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. The book also talks about Leana Hartlog, the woman who betrayed the Franks. Anne Frank, The Biography also talks about the five missing pages of the diary. Otto tore five pages out of the diary. These pages talked about Otto having a secret love, and spoke badly of Edith. Otto tore these pages out so that he could honestly say that he had no more of the diary. He gave these pages to a friend, who gave them to Ms. Muller, author of Anne Frank, the Biography Anne never really died at Bergin-Belson; her voice lives on. No matter which way you met Anne Frank, through the diary, or the Anne Frank Center, you know that she still lives. She will always live, for generation and generation to meet.