Helper Miep Gies locked Anne’s diary papers away in her desk drawer shortly after the arrest of the eight people in hiding in the Secret Annex. She later gave them to Otto Frank, Anne’s father, who was the only one of the eight to survive the extermination camps. He slowly began to read the diaries, overwhelmed by painful memories, and got to know another side of his youngest daughter. ‘I had no idea of the depths of her thoughts and feelings’, he said. After some hesitation Otto decided to fulfil Anne’s wish and have her diaries published in book form.
Anne Frank’s words still resonate worldwide
June 25, 2020 — ‘I’ll make my voice heard, I’ll go out into the world and work for mankind!’ wrote Anne Frank in her diary on 11 April 1944. Her diary - which was published for the first time 73 years ago today - is still popular today, as shown by the Anne Frank video diary, which was launched recently and has had over five million views worldwide.
Publication of diary
‘The Secret Annex: Diary letters from 14 June 1942 to 1 August 1944' was published by Contact publishers on 25 June 1947 in an edition of 3,036 copies. Otto simply noted in his diary ‘Book’. Later he said of that day: ‘If she had been here, Anne would have been so proud.’ After the first publication in the Netherlands in 1947 the diary was published in Germany and France in 1950. An English translation followed in 1952. The book has currently been translated into over seventy languages.
Videodiary launched
Today, in search of a new way to introduce young people to Anne Frank’s life story and her diary, on 30 March 2020 the Anne Frank House and Every Media launched the Anne Frank video diary: an online video series on YouTube in which 13-year-old Luna Cruz Perez plays Anne Frank and translates her diary letters into video diaries. The series is in Dutch with subtitles in German, English, Portuguese and Spanish and – since recently – also in French, Hebrew, Japanese and Russian.
‘It’s wonderful that the diary of Anne Frank still engages so many young people. That’s also shown by the Anne Frank video diary, which has been viewed by more than five million people worldwide since its launch at the end of March. Luna Cruz Perez makes a direct connection with the young Anne on camera. I hope that even more young people will be touched by the video diary, and that they’ll learn about Anne Frank’s life story and reflect on antisemitism and discrimination today. I also hope it will stimulate them to read Anne’s diary itself: her beautifully written diary letters.’