Introduction 

     Have you ever heard of the Holocaust? This is a horrible time in history when Adolf Hitler's cruel actions and beliefs led to the deaths of six million Jewish people in the 1930s and 1940s.  

     Anne Frank was a kid at the time just like me. Anne´s life was changed and destroyed by Adolf Hitler´s actions. Read to find out more about this dark time in history, and how Adolf Hitler's actions affected Anne Frank's life.      

Hitler's Early Life

     Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889, and he spent important parts of his early life in  Vienna, a place with a large Jewish community where he settled from 1903 to 1907. Hitler moved to Germany in 1913 and he renounced his Austrian citizenship in 1925 to become a German citizen.

Blaming Jewish People

     Hitler blamed the Jewish people for Germany losing World War I, and for the problems that the country of Germany was having in the 1920s and 1930s after the end of World War I. 

     During the time period called the Great Depression, there were problems all across the world including in Germany and the United States. Many people lost their jobs and did not have enough food and resources to take care of their families. 

     Adolf Hitler made many hateful speeches where he blamed all of Germany's problems on groups of innocent people, especially Jewish people.  

The Nazis Take Power

     Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party. The political message and promise that Hitler made to Germany was to make Germany strong again. 

     In January 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. As soon as he got the power, the rights of Jewish people started to be taken away. Laws were passed so that Jewish people lost their jobs. Germans were not allowed to go to stores owned by Jewish people. Nazi Stormtroopers stopped people from entering Jewish businesses. Books written by Jewish authors were burned. 

     Some Jewish people like Anne Frank's family felt it was not safe to stay in Germany at this time, and so they left their homes and moved away to different countries. Many Jewish people could not move away, and so they suffered in Nazi Germany.

The Night of Broken Glass

     November 9 and 10, 1938 is known as Kristallnacht, which means "the night of broken glass." Led by the Nazi SS and the Nazi Stormtroopers, terror filled the streets. Jewish stores and businesses were destroyed. Jewish synagogues and schools were burned. Jewish people were killed in the streets.

     Over the next weeks, the homes and property of Jewish people were taken away.  Jews were arrested and forced to go to concentration camps in Dachau, Buchenwald, and Baden-Baden.     

Children in the Holocaust

     The conditions of moving children to new concentration camps were very hard and cruel. The children did not get food or water for long periods of time. Many kids did not survive because in the summer it was so hot they suffocated, and in the winter it was so cold they froze. 

     Some Polish railway workers risked their lives to help the Jewish children that were packed on the trains headed to concentration camps. They secretly gave them food, water and blankets because the Jewish children on the trains were starving, thirsty and cold.   

Who Is Anne Frank's Family?

     One of the millions of children whose lives were changed by the Holocaust is Anne Frank.

     Anne Frank's parents were Otto and Edith Frank, and she also had an older sister named Margot. Otto Frank's family was Jewish. 

     The Frank family had lived in Frankfurt, Germany for many generations since the 1500s. The family was successful and respected in the community. Otto Frank had served Germany as an officer in World War I from 1915 to 1918, and he was awarded the Iron Cross for his service during the war.

Why Anne´s Family Left Germany 

     Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Her full name is Annelies Marie Frank. 

     Anne Frank was born during very tough times. Millions of Germans were out of work. As people in Germany became more desperate to find a way out of the hard times, they started to listen to the speeches of Adolf Hitler, which were full of hatred for the Jewish people.

     Adolf Hitler blamed the Jewish people for all of Germany's problems. Once Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany in 1933, many laws and rules were passed that made life difficult and dangerous for Jewish people. Anyone who spoke up against the unfair treatment was arrested and put in prison camps.

     Anne Frank's family didn't think it was safe to stay in Germany. In 1933, the family left their home and country to move to Amsterdam, Holland. They thought they would be safe in a new country away from the cruel words and actions of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. 

A Safe New Home 

     Anne Frank's first few years in Amsterdam were peaceful and fun. Anne was a very active and outgoing girl, and she loved writing plays and acting out the parts. She had a big dream of becoming a writer or movie star. 

     Anne Frank's family was safe until World War II started in 1939, and then the Nazis invaded and took over Holland in 1940. The Germans took over one country after another all over Europe. No place was safe.

The Nazis Invade 

      Just like in Germany, rules were made by the Nazis that took away the rights and freedom of Jewish people. Jewish people living in Amsterdam were forced to wear a yellow star on the outside of their clothing so that everyone knew they were Jewish. Jewish people lost their jobs and businesses, and they were not allowed to go to school. 

     Jewish people lost their homes and were forced to go to work camps, or other concentration camps where they were tortured or killed. Anne Frank's family knew they had to leave again, except there was no safe place to go. 

A Secret Hiding Place 

     Otto Frank had been preparing a secret hiding place in the upstairs rooms of the place where he worked. The Franks had to leave fast because on June 5, 1942, Anne Frank's sister Margot was ordered to go to one of the Nazi work camps.

     The Franks needed to pack clothes quickly and go to the hiding place. They couldn't be seen with suitcases because they would look like they were escaping. So Anne Frank put on layers of clothes. In her school bag she put in books and letters and her diary.

     There were only four rooms (three bedrooms and a bathroom) in their hiding place. The Franks also let some other Jewish people hide there who were also trying to escape from the Nazis. 

     Eight people had to live together in the small hiding place: Otto Frank (Anne's dad), Edith Frank (Anne's mom), Anne Frank, Margot Frank (Anne's older sister), Mr. and Mrs. van Pels, and their teenage son, Peter van Pels, and a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer.

Living in Hiding 

     These eight people lived in the small hiding place with only three bedrooms and a bathroom for two long years. During the day when people were working in the warehouse rooms below the hiding place, they had to remain very still and silent.

     A moveable bookcase was built to hide the small stairway that led to their secret hiding place. A few brave friends of Otto Frank risked their lives by secretly bringing food and news to the hiding place. It was frustrating and frightening living in the small hiding place with the sounds of gunfire, sirens, and bombs outside.

Found! 

     On August 4, 1944, the Nazis broke in and discovered their hiding place. All eight people in the secret rooms were captured and sent away on trains to concentration camps. 

     Anne was taken to Auschwitz, a Nazi death camp in Poland. Her family got separated. Some people arriving at Auschwitz were immediately killed. Others were forced to work with little food. Anne's hair was shaved and she became very thin and frail, but she somehow survived at Auschwitz.

Anne's Final Days

     In October 1944, Anne and her sister Margot were taken to Bergen-Belsen, another concentration camp in Germany. There was little food or water at Bergen-Belsen, and lots of sickness and disease.  Anne and Margot both became sick with typhus.  

Conclusion

     Anne Frank died of disease and hunger in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March of 1945. She was only fifteen years old. Just a few weeks later, on April 15, 1945, British troops arrived at Bergen-Belsen to free and rescue the survivors at the concentration camp.

     Out of the eight people who lived in the secret hiding place for two years, Anne Frank's dad Otto Frank is the only person who survived the concentration camps.

     Anne Frank is one out of 6,000,000 Jewish people, including 1,500,000 children, who died during the Holocaust because of the actions and beliefs of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.