A
Anne Frank
German-born Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl
- Pages
- 432
- Published
- 1947
- Language
- English
Synopsis
In July 1942, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank went into hiding with her family in a concealed set of rooms behind her father's business in Amsterdam, sheltering from the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. For just over two years, she kept a diary — addressed to an imaginary friend she called Kitty — recording daily life in the cramped "Secret Annex" she shared with seven others.
Anne writes with startling candor and wit about the frictions of confinement, her prickly relationship with her mother, her tentative first love, and her fierce ambition to become a writer. Alongside the ordinary tensions of adolescence runs the constant, unspoken fear of discovery, and a remarkable, hard-won faith in human goodness.
The diary ends abruptly in August 1944, when the annex was betrayed and its occupants deported; Anne died in Bergen-Belsen the following year. Published by her surviving father, The Diary of a Young Girl has become one of the most widely read accounts of the Holocaust — an intimate, indelible testament to a single life set against unimaginable history.
Genres
Frequently asked questions
Has The Diary of a Young Girl won any awards or notable recognitions?
In a 1999 reader poll conducted by the French newspaper Le Monde and the retailer Fnac, the diary was voted onto "Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century," ranking 19th among the hundred most memorable books of the 20th century as chosen by 17,000 French participants.
Are there different versions of the diary available to read?
Anne Frank wrote two distinct versions of her diary, known as version A and version B, with the latter being her own attempt to rewrite and refine her entries for future publication. The widely read editions published after the war were further edited by her father, Otto Frank, while more recent releases like the Definitive Edition incorporate previously omitted passages to provide a more complete account.
How do the various film and stage adaptations compare to the book?
Many adaptations, such as the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play and the 1959 film, were based on the initial post-war edited version of the diary and often emphasize specific themes of hope and resilience. Other projects, including animated features and graphic novel adaptations, have since sought to present the material through different artistic lenses or by incorporating more of the original, unedited text.