Similarities Between Anne Frank And Eddie Hillesum

Anne Frank and Eddie Hillesum are two female individuals that wrote diaries during the Holocaust, documenting their experiences. Anne Frank was a young, cheerful girl that knew everything was going to fine in the end. However, Hillesum had come to agreement with life and knew that the event wasn’t going to end, so she wanted to live her life to the fullest. Knowing this, there are a lot of similarities between the two diaries, but they are also differences between them. Comparing the two diaries written by Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum, we can notice some similarities between them, such as their personalities. For instance, Frank writes on June 24, “My bike was stolen during Easter vacation, and Father gave Mother’s bike to some Christian friends

for safekeeping.” On other hand, Hillesum writes, “In Amsterdam, I see from the paper, the Jews may still cycle about. What a privilege! At least we need fear no longer that our bicycles will be stolen” As you can see, both of these girls care very much about bikes which is something most people don’t really care about. From these two quotes, we can tell that both of them care about bikes a lot since the mention of transportation and the lack of bike usage is a carrying theme throughout both of their diaries.
In addition to having a similar personality, they also have a similar tone.

For instance, both of them write somewhat cheerful, despite the harsh conditions they are in. Both of them write with a tone of hope, positivity, and a wish to get out of woe. This can be shown in one of Frank’s entries that was written on July 11 which goes, “Not me, I liked it from the start; it sounds so reassuring, especially at night.” From this quote, you can tell that Frank is the only one who has hope in hiding from the Nazis. However, the rest of the “escapees” would disagree as they need time to adjust and are constantly worried they are going to get caught. On the other hand, Hillesum writes at 3:45 in the afternoon, “When I say: I have come to terms with life, I don’t mean I have lost hope.” This reveals that she also still has hope, which is very rare in a period like the

Holocaust.
Although both Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum share some similarities between their diaries, there are also some differences that can be noticed through their writing. One example of a difference is the circumstance that they were in. In Frank’s writing, it is revealed that her family is going into hiding from the Nazis instead of facing them directly. This was shown in one of her diary entries written on July 8 which goes, “...I stuck the craziest things in the bag, but I’m not sorry.” On the other hand, Hillesum goes through the same experiences Frank does but doesn’t go into hiding. Instead, she faces the Nazis directly and in return, she goes to the concentration camps much earlier than Frank. This can be seen through a diary entry written by her on a Monday morning that goes, “I have already died a thousand deaths in a thousand concentration camps.” Although she doesn’t literally die a thousand times, it still leaves the message that she was caught by the Nazis at some point.
Another difference between the two girls is their personality.

Frank and Hillesum have a huge age difference at the time of them writing their diaries. Frank is only thirteen years old while Hillesum is around the age of 27. This makes a huge difference in their personalities since their perceptions of life are much different. For instance, Frank writes on July 8, “These were questions I wasn’t allowed to ask, but they still kept running through my mind.” Frank’s family initially doesn’t want her to know what was going on and what exactly they were doing. She didn’t know that they were going into hiding because she thought her sister was going to a concentration camp. Hillesum, on the other hand, writes on a Monday morning, “I know about everything and am no longer appalled by the latest reports. One way or another I know it all.” This implies that she knows exactly what is going, the Holocaust, Nazis, Jews trying to escape their deaths, and other information usually a thirteen year old wouldn’t know. This is much different than Frank because she doesn’t have a lot of the information that most adults know so when writing her diary, her entries appear more cheerful while Hillesum’s entries are a little more

sad.
Acknowledging the differences between their circumstances and personality is mostly revealed through their tone of their diaries, which also contains some differences. For instance, Frank writes on June 11, “The Anne is an ideal place to hide in. It may be damp and lopsided, but there’s probably not a more comfortable hiding place in all of Amsterdam.” Her tone of the entry is more optimistic as she is only a thirteen year old, so she doesn’t really know the hardships of life yet. In addition, she’s the only one who tries to have fun when hiding in the annex which can be seen through her jovial style of living and the dancing she wants to do with her family. However, the same cannot be said for Hillesum. On 3:45 in the afternoon, she writes in her diary, “We have to accept death as a part of life, even the most horrible deaths.” This shows that she is happy with her life and if her life were to end at that instance, she would be fine with it. This is mostly due to the fact that she is much older and isn’t in hiding so she encounters the hardships of the Holocaust on a daily basis. In addition, there isn’t as much hope for escaping the Nazis as there is in Frank.
In conclusion, comparing the two diaries written by Anne Frank and Etty Hillesum, we can notice some similarities between them, such as personality and tone. However, despite the similarities, the two diaries have a lot of differences, which can be categorized into circumstance, personality, and tone.