The Diary Of Anne Frank By Wendy Kesselman

1460 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Writing of survivors of the holocaust

The Diary of Anne Frank by Wendy Kesselman follows Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl growing up during World War Two. Anne and her family are forced into hiding with another Jewish family and the play details these events up until Anne and the other members of the hidden Annex are discovered and captured by Nazi officers. Anne Frank’s story has long been used as a way to educate people on the effects of the Holocaust because Anne is an incredibly relatable and sympathetic character, given her relationship with her family and her young age. In addition to educating the audience, Kesselman used The Diary of Anne Frank as a vehicle to encourage sympathy among audience members for victims of the Holocaust through the given circumstances of the play and Anne’s characterization. …show more content…

However, that is not to say that Kesselman does not supply clarification to those in the audience who may not be as educated on the specifics of the Holocaust. The first lines of the play are spoken in voice over by Anne, who tells the audience what has happened to her family in the years leading up to their arrival in the hidden Annex:
ANNE. Father was forced to give up his business – manufacturing products used to make jam. We couldn’t use streetcars, couldn’t go to the theatre or movies anymore, couldn’t be out on the street after 8 P.M., couldn’t even sit in our own gardens! We had to turn in our bicycles. No beaches, no swimming pools, no libraries – we couldn’t even walk on the sunny side of the streets! Our identity cards were stamped with a big black “J.” And…we had to wear the yellow star. But somehow life went on.

Show More
Related

  • The Diary Of Anne Frank Act 2 Scene 5 Summary

    461 Words  | 1 Pages

    Act two, scene four fits into the overall structure of the play because this scene is the conflict or climax, the problem of the play. The play’s major theme is during tough times, have hope. This scene adds to the major theme of the play because when Franks, Van Daans, and Dussel were caught by the natzis, the families kept their hope. The play, “The diary of Anne Frank” is based off of the diary of Anne Frank, a teenager who spent more than two years hiding from Natzis during the Holocaust. When Anne’s family was found by Natzis, they were sent to concentration camps, where she died. During this part of the scene, Peter talks to Anne about how he cannot stand being cooped up anymore and Anne tries her best to comfort Peter. For example, In the play the Anne

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Night And Anne Frank

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film relates how Anne and her family tried to survive Nazi persecution in Amsterdam by hiding in her father's office building, aided by trusted friends. Growing up anne was a child that wanted to know everything and ask lots of questions. Anne and her family were hiding for 2 years and everyday she will write in her diary. When the jews were segregated they weren't allowed to have businesses but the father continue to run the business with the trust of christians.During the two years anne and her family was hiding in fear didn’t stop them from celebrating hanukkah. After two years when anne was 15 her and her family was caught and sent to concentration camps where she later died at the age of

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Diary Of Anne Frank

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play version of The Diary Of Anne Frank is a play about a young girl and her family hiding from the Nazi’s in fear of being taken to a concentration camp during World War 2. In this play, Anne must adjust to life and growing up in hiding while living with seven other people. While the play is still very popular and enjoyed, there is also a more recent version of this story that is told through a movie to share this story in a more modern way and to appeal to more. In this movie, the audience watches Anne go through the struggles of adjusting to life in hiding and living with a large group of people. Although the play and the movie versions of The Diary Of Anne Frank do have some differences in storytelling and dialogue, both stories have the same conflicts, setting, characters, and life lessons.

    Read More

  • Mr. Frank Persuasive Essay

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wisps of burnt-out curtains drape over shattered window frames, fluttering helplessly like a bird with injured wings. Pieces of wood collapse snapping once they hit the ground. Smoke swirls around in the wind. No sound can be heard except for the occasional sobs escaping the chapped lips of people visiting what is left of their homes. The once busy city of Amsterdam is now nothing but a city of forgotten souls. In 1942, the Franks and the Van Daans moved into a warehouse located in Amsterdam to escape the perilous world outside, where the Holocaust was taking place. Jews like the Franks and the Van Daans had their rights taken away from them. The Gestapo, the police working for the Nazis, rounded up people to be sent to concentration camps, where people worked to death. Margot Frank was one of them. Many Jews had to leave the country to escape, while the two families, and later on a man named Dussel, lived on the top floor of the warehouse called the Secret Annex. Living in such a small space and having sparse food with so many people was not easy. On weekdays, not a noise was to be made otherwise the workmen below would hear them. Food and other items had to be brought in by Miep and Mr. Kraler, who risked their lives to help the members of the Secret Annex. To keep herself company, Anne Frank wrote in her diary almost every day. Later on, her diary was published, and two authors decided that they would write a play based on the published diary, named The Diary of Anne Frank. Goodrich and Hackett created memorable characters in their play. Among these people, Otto Frank stood out, who emerged as a good leader because he put himself before others, made rough decisions when problems rose, and stayed positive and optimistic even dur...

    Read More

  • The Diary of Anne Frank

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    This would happen to be my report on what happened to Anne and her family while World War II was in action once it was converted to a play and a movie format. I'm sure they both these versions are much less graphic than Anne and her family saw it. I just hope Anne feels that they do her story justice. Both the play and film version of The Diary of Anne Frank focus on Anne Frank and her family's experiences in hiding. However, there are some similarities, including how Anne hands out presents to her family members and the other people in the Annex, and some differences, such as Anne and Peter's relationship and, Margot and Peter's relationship.

    Read More

  • Good At Heart: The Diary Of Anne Frank

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    How would you feel if you were a Jew in World War II? Anne Frank was a Jew in World War II. The play we read was called the diary of Anne Frank. She said, "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." According to the diary she believed in the quality in people even after hardships her family has endured. Anne Frank had to go into hiding from Hitler because he wanted to kill all of the Jews. He thought that they should not be allowed to practice their religion. Because of this, she had to go into hiding for two years. Here are some ways she showed her belief that people were good at heart. The first reason is she thought of different ways to make her family happy in the darkest of times. The second reason is Mr. Van Daan stole bread to feed himself. The third reason was she found someone to talk to even when she was trapped for two years. She was believing in everyone else as they were breaking down in fear.

    Read More

  • Comparing Anne Frank And Other Jews In The Diary Of Anne Frank

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite several notable contrasts between Anne Frank’s life presented in the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” and other accounts of Jewish people in hiding during World War II, the lives of these Jews had more similarities than differences. These people were similar in the way that they lived the same schedule every day. Anne and the other Jews relied on their helpers, who risked their lives willingly, to provide food and other human necessities for them, as well as tried to include aspects of their old lives before the Holocaust into their new lives in hiding. The Jews lived with fear of getting caught by Nazis in the back of their minds. Even though Jewish people may have had different

    Read More

  • Comparison between Maus & Anne Frank

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Holocaust was a terrible time, where the Nazis were eliminating Jews due to a misunderstanding that was passed down from Adolf Hitler to the Germans. Hilter filled the minds of Germans with hatred against Jews. Books such as Maus and Anne Frank has been able to suppress the horror of the holocaust. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, is about Art Spiegelman’s father Vladek Spriegelman and his experiences enduring the holocaust. Anne Frank, by Ann Kramer is about Frank and her friends and family struggling to survive the holocaust, yet in the end only her dad, Otto Frank is the only survivor. The author of the book Anne...

    Read More

  • Mrs Van Daan The Diary Of Anne Frank

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    One’s true self is only ever revealed in times of great desperation or hopelessness, and only then can the true extent of their morality be determined. Within Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s play The Diary of Anne Frank, the eight inhabitants of the aptly proclaimed “Secret Annex” were forced into close quarters for an extended amount of time. During this period, Petronella Van Daan proved herself to be the worst, personality-wise, of them all. Such is easily seen throughout various conflicts within the play, in which Mrs. Van Daan slowly reveals herself to be reactive, materialistic, vain, and generally antagonistic to both the reader and the occupants of the Annex.

    Read More

  • Diary Of A Young Girl Anne Frank Analysis

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl narrates the journey of adolescent Anne Frank during World War II. The diary allows insight into the changes Anne went through during the war after going into hiding to avoid persecution. Over the course of her time in hiding she matured, and used her diary to voice her innermost thoughts and desires. Anne’s diary shows how she came to terms with change as a result of her circumstances, and how she herself changed as a result.

    Read More

  • The Boy Who Dared Themes

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Diary of Anne Frank has many themes, including love, youth and isolation. Anne loves Peter, but she is a young girl and she is naive and gullible. She tries to experience something nice in a time of sadness and darkness. She is young, a thirteen year old trying to survive the Holocaust. Also there is isolation, her ‘family’ is living in an attic in the middle of Europe.

    Read More

  • The Diary of Anne Frank

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    The name “Anne Frank” is synonymous with hope, optimism, and belief in human good, even in times of relentless evil. Although she only lived to be fifteen, Anne is known and respected throughout the world for the humanistic light her work shed on an infamous time. Born June 12th, 1929, in Germany, she spent her early years in a middle-class Jewish-German family. However, the tranquility of the Frank family and 522,000 other German-Jews’ would be shattered by one of the most nefarious events in history, the Holocaust. Anne’s diary became an influential resource in understanding historical and emotional aspects of the Holocaust. Although she was young, Anne Frank is the greatest diarist of European history because she preserved a critical time in history, her work captured the human experience of the Holocaust, and her ideals of hope and optimism remain influential throughout our world today.

    Read More

  • The DIary of Anne Frank

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Diary of Anne Frank portrayed perseverance in an individual's characteristics in times of despair. It displays that the way you live your life depends on one's perspective and mentality towards the world. Written by Anne Frank herself, this diary conveyed the perspective of a distraught teen living during the Holocaust. Anne writes about her feelings of isolation and loneliness, each diary entry maturing as time passes. Despite her situation that she was put i...

    Read More

  • The Diary of Anne Frank Book Review

    1379 Words  | 3 Pages

    On June 12, 1929, at 7:30 AM, a baby girl was born in Frankfort, Germany. No one realized that this infant, who was Jewish, was destined to become one of the worlds most famous victims of World War II. Her name was Anne Frank. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank and B.M. Mooyaart, was actually the real diary of Anne Frank. Anne was a girl who lived with her family during the time while the Nazis took power over Germany. Because they were Jewish, Otto, Edith, Margot, and Anne Frank immigrated to Holland in 1933. Hitler invaded Holland on May 10, 1940, a month before Anne?s eleventh birthday. In July 1942, Anne's family went into hiding in the Prinsengracht building. Anne and her family called it the 'Secret Annex'. Life there was not easy at all. They had to wake up at 6:45 every morning. Nobody could go outside, nor turn on lights at night. Anne mostly spent her time reading books, writing stories, and of course, making daily entries in her diary. She only kept her diary while hiding from the Nazis. This diary told the story of the excitement and horror in this young girl's life during the Holocaust. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl reveals the life of a young innocent girl who is forced into hiding from the Nazis because of her religion, Judaism. This book is very informing and enlightening. It introduces a time period of discrimination, unfair judgment, and power-crazed individuals, and with this, it shows the effect on the defenseless.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Diary Of A Young Girl By Anne Frank

    825 Words  | 2 Pages

    The autobiography book, “The Diary of a Young Girl”, is a collection of Dutch diary entries authored by Anne Frank, a 13-year-old Jewish girl who lived through the atrocities of the Anti-Semitist German Nazi Regime. Beginning on June 14, 1942, the diary, which Anne named “Kitty”, vividly depicts fear-filled stories of the Franks and other Jews in evading racial annihilation. Besides the stories of war, the world-renown personal account narrates a teenage girl’s blossoming and her search for identity, love, and acceptance. The entries end abruptly on August 1, 1944, signifying the Gestapo’s capture of the Frank family and all the other residents of the Secret Annexe, but despite the impermanence of Anne’s life, her legacy endures

    Read More

More about The Diary Of Anne Frank By Wendy Kesselman

Open Document