Anne Frank's Diary
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''The Diary of a Young Girl'', commonly referred to as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the
Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the List of languages by total number of speak ...
diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...
kept by
Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...
while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the
Nazi occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of '' Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal f ...
. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
in the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...
in 1945. Anne's diaries were retrieved by
Miep Gies Hermine "Miep" Gies (; ; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family ( Otto, Margot, Edith) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels) ...
and
Bep Voskuijl Elisabeth "Bep" Voskuijl (; 5 July 1919 – 6 May 1983) was a resident of Amsterdam who helped conceal Anne Frank and her family from Nazism, Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands. In the early versions of ''Het Achterhuis' ...
. Miep gave them to Anne's father,
Otto Frank Otto Heinrich Frank (12 May 1889 – 19 August 1980) was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 (subsequently known in English as ''The Diary of a Young Girl'') and adv ...
, the family's only survivor, just after the Second World War was over. The diary has since been published in more than 70 languages. It was first published under the title (; ''The Annex: Diary Notes 14 June 1942 – 1 August 1944'') by in Amsterdam in 1947. The diary received widespread critical and popular attention on the appearance of its English language translation, ''Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl'' by
Doubleday & Company Doubleday is an American publishing company. It was founded as the Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897. By 1947, it was the largest book publisher in the United States. It published the work of mostly U.S. authors under a number of imprints and ...
(United States) and
Vallentine Mitchell Vallentine Mitchell is a publishing company based in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. The company publishes books on Jewish-related topics. One of its earliest books was the first English-language edition of '' The Diary of Anne Frank''. Fr ...
(United Kingdom) in 1952. Its popularity inspired the 1955 play '' The Diary of Anne Frank'' by the screenwriters
Frances Goodrich Frances Goodrich (December 21, 1890 – January 29, 1984) was an American actress, dramatist, and screenwriter, best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her hu ...
and
Albert Hackett Albert Maurice Hackett (February 16, 1900 – March 16, 1995) was an American actor, dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich. Their film work includes the first three instalments in ...
, which they adapted for the screen for the 1959 movie version. The book is included in several lists of the top books of the 20th century. The
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
of the Dutch version of the diary, published in 1947, expired on 1 January 2016, seventy years after the author's death, as a result of a general rule in
copyright law of the European Union Copyright law within the European Union is largely harmonized, although differences between member states exist. The body of law was implemented in the EU through a number of directives, which the member states need to enact into their nation ...
. Following this, the original Dutch version was made available online.


Background

During the
Nazi occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of '' Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered. The Dutch government and the royal f ...
, Anne Frank received a blank diary as one of her presents on 12 June 1942, her 13th birthday. According to the
Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House () is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Judaism, Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in Amsterdam-Centrum, central Amst ...
, the red, checkered
autograph book An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. '' Webster's Third New Inter ...
which Anne used as her diary was actually not a surprise, since she had chosen it the day before with her father when browsing a bookstore near her home. She entered a one-sentence note on her birthday, writing "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support." The main diary was written from 14 June. On 5 July 1942, Anne's then-16-year-old sister,
Margot Margot ( , ) is a feminine given name, a French language, French diminutive of Marguerite (given name), Marguerite that has long been used as an independent name. Variant spellings in use include Margo (given name), Margo and Margaux (name), Margaux ...
, received an official summons to report to a Nazi work camp in Germany, and on 6 July, Margot and Anne went into hiding with their parents
Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants '' Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fr ...
and
Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning ''wiktionary:strife, strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English language, Englis ...
. They were later joined by Hermann van Pels, Otto's business partner, his wife Auguste and their teenage son
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
. Their hiding place was in the sealed-off upper rooms of the annex at the back of Otto's company building in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. Otto Frank started his business, named Opekta, in 1933. He was licensed to manufacture and sell
pectin Pectin ( ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural polymer contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal chemical component of pectin is galact ...
, a substance used to make jam. He stopped running his business while in hiding. But once he returned in the summer of 1945, he found his employees running it. The rooms that everyone hid in were concealed behind a movable bookcase in the same building as Opekta.
Fritz Pfeffer Friedrich "Fritz" Pfeffer (30 April 1889 – 20 December 1944) was a German dentist and Jewish refugee who hid with Anne Frank and her family and the Van Pels family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. He perished in the Neuengam ...
, the dentist of their helper Miep Gies, joined them four months later. In the published version, names were changed: The van Pelses are known as the Van Daans, and Fritz Pfeffer as Albert Düssel. With the assistance of a group of Otto Frank's trusted colleagues, they remained hidden for two years and one month. On 6 June 1944, the Allied forces commenced the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
, in France; the group was aware of this development, and hopeful for eventual liberation. On 4 August 1944, six weeks before the Allies breached the Belgian-Dutch border, the group was discovered and deported to Nazi concentration camps. They were long thought to have been betrayed, although there are indications that their discovery may have been accidental, that the police raid had actually targeted "ration fraud". Of the eight people, only Otto Frank survived the war. Anne was 15 years old when she died in the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...
, in Nazi Germany. The exact date of her death is unknown, and has long been believed to be in late February or early March, a few weeks before the concentration camp was liberated by British troops on 15 April 1945. In the manuscript, her original diaries are written over three extant volumes. The first volume (the red-and-white checkered autograph book) covers the period between 14 June and 5 December 1942. Since the second surviving volume (a school exercise book) begins on 22 December 1943, and ends on 17 April 1944, it is assumed that the original volume or volumes between December 1942 and December 1943 were lost, presumably after the arrest, when the hiding place was emptied on Nazi instructions. However, this missing period is covered in the version Anne rewrote for preservation. The third existing volume (which was also a school exercise book) contains entries from 17 April to 1 August 1944, when Anne wrote for the last time three days before her arrest. The manuscript, written on loose sheets of paper, was found strewn on the floor of the hiding place by
Miep Gies Hermine "Miep" Gies (; ; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family ( Otto, Margot, Edith) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels) ...
and
Bep Voskuijl Elisabeth "Bep" Voskuijl (; 5 July 1919 – 6 May 1983) was a resident of Amsterdam who helped conceal Anne Frank and her family from Nazism, Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands. In the early versions of ''Het Achterhuis' ...
after the family's arrest, but before their rooms were ransacked by a special department of the Amsterdam office of the ''
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...
'' (SD, Nazi intelligence agency) for which many Dutch collaborators worked. The papers were given to Otto Frank after the war, when Anne's death was confirmed in July 1945 by sisters
Marianne Marianne () has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty. Marianne is displayed i ...
and Rebekka Brilleslijper, who were with Margot and Anne in Bergen-Belsen.


Format

The diary is not written in the classic forms of "Dear Diary" or as letters to oneself; Anne calls her diary "Kitty", so almost all of the letters are written to Kitty. Anne used the above-mentioned names for her annex-mates in the first volume, from 25 September 1942 until 13 November 1942, when the first notebook ends. It is believed that these names were taken from characters found in a series of popular Dutch books written by Cissy van Marxveldt. Anne's already budding literary ambitions were galvanized on 29 March 1944 when she heard a London radio broadcast made by the exiled Dutch Minister for Education, Art, and Science,
Gerrit Bolkestein Gerrit Bolkestein (; 9 October 1871 – 8 September 1956) was a Dutch politician and member of the Free-thinking Democratic League. Bolkestein was the Minister for Education, Art and Science from 1939 until 1945, and was part of the Dutch g ...
, calling for the preservation of "ordinary documentsa diary, letters ... simple everyday material" to create an archive for posterity as testimony to the suffering of civilians during the Nazi occupation. On 20 May 1944, she notes that she started re-drafting her diary with future readers in mind. She expanded entries and standardized them by addressing all of them to Kitty, clarified situations, prepared a list of pseudonyms, and cut scenes she thought would be of little interest or too intimate for general consumption. By the time she started the second existing volume, she was writing only to Kitty.


''Dear Kitty''

For many years there was much conjecture about the identity of or inspiration for Kitty. In 1996, the critic Sietse van der Hoek wrote that the name referred to Kitty Egyedi, a prewar friend of Anne's. Van der Hoek may have been informed by the publication ''A Tribute to Anne Frank'' (1970), prepared by the Anne Frank Foundation, which assumed a factual basis for the character in its preface by the then-chairman of the Foundation, Henri van Praag, and accentuated this with the inclusion of a group photograph that singles out Anne, Sanne Ledermann, Hanneli Goslar, and Kitty Egyedi. However, Anne does not mention Egyedi in any of her writings (in fact, the only other girl mentioned in her diary from the often reproduced photo, other than Goslar and Ledermann, is Mary Bos, whose drawings Anne dreamed about in 1944) and the only comparable example of Anne's writing un-posted letters to a real friend are two farewell letters to Jacqueline van Maarsen, from September 1942. Theodor Holman wrote in reply to Sietse van der Hoek that the diary entry for 28 September 1942 proved conclusively the character's fictional origin. Jacqueline van Maarsen agreed, but Otto Frank assumed his daughter had her real acquaintance in mind when she wrote to someone of the same name. Kitty Egyedi said in an interview that she was flattered by the possibility it was her, but stated: Only when Anne Frank's diaries were transcribed in the 1980s did it emerge that 'Kitty' was not unique; she was one of a group of eight recipients to whom Anne addressed the first few months of her diary entries. In some of the notes, Anne references the other names, suggesting she imagined they all knew each other. With the exception of Kitty, none of the names were of people from Anne's real-life social circle. Three of the names may be imaginary, but five of them correspond to the names of a group of friends from the novels of Cissy van Marxveldt, which Anne was reading at the time. Significantly, the novels are
epistolary Epistolary means "relating to an epistle or letter". It may refer to: * Epistolary (), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles * Epistolary novel, a novel written as a series of lette ...
and include a teenage girl called 'Kitty Francken'. By the end of 1942, Anne was writing solely to her. In 1943, when she started revising and expanding her diary entries, she standardised the form and consolidated all of the recipients to just Kitty.


Synopsis

Anne expressed the desire in the rewritten introduction of her diary for one person that she can call her truest friend – that is, a person to whom she could confide her deepest thoughts and feelings. She observes that she has had many "friends" and admirers, but (by her own definition) no true, dear friend with whom she could share her innermost thoughts. She originally thought her girl friend Jacque van Maarsen would be this person, but that was only partially successful. In an early diary passage, she remarks that she is not in love with Helmut "Hello" Silberberg, her suitor at that time, but considers that he might become a true friend. In hiding, she invests much time and effort into her budding romance with Peter van Pels, thinking he might evolve into that one, true friend, but that is eventually a disappointment to her in some ways, although she continues to care for him. Ultimately, it was only to Kitty that she entrusted her innermost thoughts. Beyond her personal relationships and aspirations, Anne refers extensively to the persecution, arrests, deportations, and disappearances of Jews, and the constant fear of discovery that permeated their lives in hiding. She often mentions the arrests of Jews and the compulsory wearing of the yellow star. There are hints of darker rumours — references to Jews "being gassed" — but these remain vague and uncertain within the diary. Anne's writing captures the partial, rumour-based understanding of the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
typical for Jews living under Nazi occupation at the time. Even while concealed in the Annex, they knew they faced mortal danger, but the full-scale, mechanization, and ideological fury driving the genocide would not have been clear from their limited vantage point. In her diary, Anne wrote of her very close relationship with her father, lack of daughterly love for her mother (with whom she felt she had nothing in common), and admiration for her sister's intelligence and sweet nature. She did not like the others much initially, particularly Auguste van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer (the latter shared her room). She was at first unimpressed by the quiet Peter; she herself was something of a self-admitted chatterbox (a source of irritation to some of the others). As time went on, however, she and Peter became very close and spent a lot of time together. After a while Anne became disappointed in Peter and on 15 July 1944, she wrote in her diary that Peter could never be a 'kindred spirit'.


Editorial history

There are two versions of the diary written by Anne Frank. She wrote the first version in a designated diary and two notebooks (version A), but rewrote it (version B) in 1944 after hearing on the radio that war-time diaries were to be collected to document the war period. Version B was written on loose paper, and is not identical to Version A, as parts were added and others omitted.


Publication in Dutch

"... hugh Anne had made it plain that she wanted to become a famous writer, she had also made it clear that she wanted to keep her diary to herself. But finally er fatherdecided that publication was what Anne would have wanted."Anne Frank: ''The Biography'', Melissa Muller, updated and expanded edition 2013, Metropolitan Books, p. 340, . The first transcription of Anne's diary was in German, made by Otto Frank for his friends and relatives in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, who convinced him to send it for publication. The second, a composite of Anne Frank's versions A and B as well as excerpts from her essays, became the first draft submitted for publication, with an epilogue written by a family friend explaining the fate of its author. In the spring of 1946, it came to the attention of Dr. Jan Romein and his wife Annie Romein-Verschoor, two Dutch historians. They were so moved by it that Anne Romein made unsuccessful attempts to find a publisher, which led Romein to write an article for the newspaper : This caught the interest of in Amsterdam, who approached Otto Frank to submit a Dutch draft of the manuscript for their consideration. They offered to publish, but advised Otto Frank that Anne's candor about her emerging sexuality might offend certain conservative quarters, and suggested cuts. Further entries were also deleted. The diarywhich was a combination of version A and version Bwas published under the name (''The Secret Annex. Diary Letters from 14 June 1942 to 1 August 1944'') on 25 June 1947. Otto Frank later discussed this moment, "If she had been here, Anne would have been so proud." The book sold well; the 3,000 copies of the first edition were soon sold out, and in 1950 a sixth edition was published. In 1986, a
critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...
appeared, incorporating versions A and B, and based on the findings of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation into challenges to the diary's authenticity. This was published in three volumes with a total of 714 pages.


Publication in English

In 1950, the Dutch translator Rosey E. Pool made a first English translation of the diary, which was never published. At the end of 1950, another translator was found to produce an English-language version. Barbara Mooyaart-Doubleday was contracted by
Vallentine Mitchell Vallentine Mitchell is a publishing company based in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. The company publishes books on Jewish-related topics. One of its earliest books was the first English-language edition of '' The Diary of Anne Frank''. Fr ...
in England, and by the end of the following year, her translation was submitted, now including the deleted passages at Otto Frank's request. As well,
Judith Jones Judith Jones (née Bailey; March 10, 1924 – August 2, 2017) was an American writer and editor, initially known for having rescued '' The Diary of Anne Frank'' from the reject pile. Jones is also known as the editor who championed Julia Child ...
, while working for the publisher
Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...
, read and recommended the Diary, pulling it out of the rejection pile. Jones recalled that she came across Frank's work in a slush pile of material that had been rejected by other publishers; she was struck by a photograph of the girl on the cover of an advance copy of the French edition. "I read it all day", she noted. "When my boss returned, I told him, 'We have to publish this book.' He said, 'What? That book by that kid?'" She brought the diary to the attention of Doubleday's New York office. "I made the book quite important because I was so taken with it, and I felt it would have a real market in America. It's one of those seminal books that will never be forgotten", Jones said. The book appeared in the United States and in the United Kingdom in 1952, becoming a best-seller. The introduction to the English publication was written by
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...
. In 1989, an English edition of this appeared under the title of ''The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition'', including Mooyaart-Doubleday's translation and Anne Frank's versions A and B, based on the Dutch critical version of 1986. A new translation by Susan Massotty, based on the original texts, was published in 1995. In 2018,
Ari Folman Ari Folman (; born December 17, 1962) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter, animator, and film-score composer. He directed the Oscar-nominated animated documentary film '' Waltz with Bashir'' (2008) and the live-action/animated film '' The ...
, a son of Holocaust survivors, adapted ''The Diary of a Young Girl'' into a graphic novel illustrated by
David Polonsky David Polonsky (; born 1973) is an Israeli book illustrator and artistic film director. His illustrations appeared in all major Israeli magazines and newspapers and illustrated many children's books, for which he received multiple awards. He also ...
.


Other languages

The work was translated in 1950 into German and French, before it appeared in 1952 in the US in English. The critical version was also translated into Chinese. By 2014, over 35 million copies had been published, in 65 languages; as of 2019, the website of the Anne Frank House records translations in over 70 languages.


Theatrical and film adaptations

"The first dramatization, written by the American author Meyer Levin, did not find a producer. Otto Frank, too, had his reservations about Levin's work..." "Otto was not much happier at first with the second dramatization, written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Only after the couple's reworking of the script had dragged on for two years did Otto give it his approval." A
play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...
by
Albert Hackett Albert Maurice Hackett (February 16, 1900 – March 16, 1995) was an American actor, dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich. Their film work includes the first three instalments in ...
and
Frances Goodrich Frances Goodrich (December 21, 1890 – January 29, 1984) was an American actress, dramatist, and screenwriter, best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her hu ...
based on the diary won the Pulitzer Prize for 1955. A subsequent film version earned
Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American film actress whose career spanned seven decades. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film), The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ' ...
an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for her performance. Winters donated her Oscar to the
Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House () is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Judaism, Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in Amsterdam-Centrum, central Amst ...
in Amsterdam. The first major adaptation to quote literal passages from the diary was 2014's ''Anne'', authorised and initiated by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel. After a two-year continuous run at the purpose-built Theater Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the play had productions in Germany and Israel. Other adaptations of the diary include a version by
Wendy Kesselman Wendy Kesselman is an American playwright. Life Wendy Kesselman joined the Actors Theatre of Louisville in 1980. She lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts Wellfleet is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable Co ...
from 1997. Alix Sobler's 2014 ''The Secret Annex'' imagined the fate of the diary in a world in which Anne Frank survives the Holocaust. The first German film version of the diary, written by Fred Breinersdorfer, was released by
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
in 2016. The film is derived from the 2014 Dutch
stage production Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicat ...
. In 2021, Folman directed ''
Where Is Anne Frank ''Where Is Anne Frank'' is a 2021 animated magic realism film directed by Israeli director Ari Folman. The film follows Kitty, Anne Frank's imaginary friend to whom she addressed her diary, manifesting in contemporary Amsterdam. Seeking to lea ...
'', an animated magical realism film based on Frank's life, with the animation styled after Polonsky's illustrations for Folman's 2018 graphic novel adaptation of ''The Diary of a Young Girl''. The film centers on Kitty—Frank's imaginary friend to whom she addressed her diary—coming to life in 21st century Netherlands; as Kitty learns of the Frank family's fates in the Holocaust, she helps a number of refugees seek asylum, aware of how similar their plight is to that of the persecuted Jews of WWII.


Censored material

In 1986 the
Dutch Institute for War Documentation Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...
published the "Critical Edition" of the diary, containing comparisons from all known versions, both edited and unedited, discussion asserting the diary's authentication, and additional historical information relating to the family and the diary itself. It also included sections of Anne's diaries which had previously been edited out, containing passages on pondering her sexuality, references to touching her friend's breasts, and her thoughts on
menstruation Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge of blood and Mucous membrane, mucosal tissue from the endometrium, inner lining of the uterus through the vagina. The menstrual cycle is characterized ...
. An edition was published in 1995 which included Anne's description of exploring of her own genitalia and her confusion regarding sex and childbirth, having previously been edited out by the original publisher. Cornelis Suijka former director of the Anne Frank Foundation and president of the U.S. Center for Holocaust Education Foundationannounced in 1999 that he was in possession of five pages that had been removed by Otto Frank from the diary prior to publication; Suijk claimed that Otto Frank gave these pages to him shortly before his death in 1980. The missing diary entries contain critical remarks by Anne Frank about her parents' strained marriage and discuss Frank's lack of affection for her mother. Some controversy ensued when Suijk claimed publishing rights over the five pages; he intended to sell them to raise money for his foundation. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, the formal owner of the manuscript, demanded the pages be handed over. In 2000 the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science agreed to donate US$300,000 to Suijk's foundation, and the pages were returned in 2001. Since then, they have been included in new editions of the diary. In May 2018, Frank van Vree, the director of the Niod Institute along with others, discovered some unseen excerpts from the diary that Anne had previously covered up with a piece of brown paper. The excerpts discuss sexuality, prostitution, and also include jokes Anne herself described as "dirty" that she heard from the other residents of the Secret Annex and elsewhere. Van Vree said "anyone who reads the passages that have now been discovered will be unable to suppress a smile", before adding, "the 'dirty' jokes are classics among growing children. They make it clear that Anne, with all her gifts, was above all an ordinary girl".


Reception

In the 1960s, Otto Frank recalled his feelings when reading the diary for the first time, "For me, it was a revelation. There, was revealed a completely different Anne to the child that I had lost. I had no idea of the depths of her thoughts and feelings." Michael Berenbaum, former director of the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...
, wrote, "Precocious in style and insight, it traces her emotional growth amid adversity. In it, she wrote, 'In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.'" In 2009, the notebooks of the diary were submitted by the Netherlands and included in UNESCO's
Memory of the World UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...
international register.


Criticism of popularity

Dara Horn, herself a descendant of Holocaust survivors, laments that Anne Frank's account ends with the thought that people are good at heart and the note that Frank died "peacefully" of
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
, shortly before Frank encounters very evil people who took her off at gunpoint to be murdered. Horn feels this allows readers to be absolved of responsibility, and that the popularity of the book derives from its lack of any depiction of the horrors of Nazi death camps. She points to accounts of victims who had more typical experiences, such as Zalmen Gradowski (reportedly one of the inspirations for the film ''
Son of Saul ''Son of Saul'' () is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and follows ...
''), who was forced to strip his fellow Jews on the way into the gas chambers, with vivid accounts of their last words and actions, and watching the bodies burn during the forced cleanup process. Horn also points out the relative lack of international attention paid to the accounts of survivors of the Holocaust, speculating Frank's diary would not have been popular had she survived, and to ironic dismissal of living Jews, such as an employee of the Anne Frank museum who was told he could not wear a
yarmulke A (plural: ''kippot''), , or is a brimless Jewish skullcap, usually made of cloth, traditionally worn by Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that the head be covered. It is the most common type of head-covering worn by men in ...
.


Vandalism

In February 2014, authorities discovered that 265 copies of the Frank diary and other material related to
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
were vandalized across 31 public libraries in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. The
Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating antisemitism, tolerance educati ...
expressed "its shock and deep concern" and, in response, Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration ...
called the vandalism "shameful." Israel donated 300 copies of Anne Frank's diary to replace the vandalized copies. An anonymous donor using the pseudonym "
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who served as vice-consul for the Japanese Empire in Kaunas, Lithuania. During the Second World War, Sugihara helped thousands of Jews flee Europe by issuing transit visas to them so that they could travel through Japan ...
" donated two boxes of books pertaining to the Holocaust to the
Tokyo Metropolitan Library is the metropolitan public library system for Tokyo, Japan. Libraries The Tokyo Metropolitan Library has two branches. The Hibiya Library, a third branch, was closed on April 1, 2009. Both branches provide access to free public Wi-Fi, printing a ...
. Police arrested an unemployed man in March 2014. In June, prosecutors decided not to indict the suspect after he was found to be mentally incompetent. According to librarians in Tokyo, books relating to the Holocaust such as the diary and ''
Man's Search for Meaning ''Man's Search for Meaning'' () is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose to eac ...
'' attract people with mental disorders and are subject to occasional vandalism.


Bans

In 2009, the group
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
called to ban the book in Lebanese schools, arguing that the text was an apology to Jews, Zionism and Israel. In 2010, the
Culpeper County, Virginia Culpeper County is a county located along the borderlands of the northern and central region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 52,552. Its county seat and only incorporated community is ...
, school system banned the 50th Anniversary "Definitive Edition" of ''Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl'', due to "complaints about its sexual content and homosexual themes." This version "includes passages previously excluded from the widely read original edition.... Some of the extra passages detail her emerging sexual desires; others include unflattering descriptions of her mother and other people living together." After consideration, it was decided a copy of the newer version would remain in the library and classes would revert to using the older version. In 2013, a similar controversy arose in a 7th grade setting in
Northville, Michigan Northville is a township in Wayne and Oakland counties in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Northville is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit, and northeast of Ann Arbor. As of the 2020 census, the city had ...
, focusing on explicit passages about sexuality. The mother behind the formal complaint referred to portions of the book as "pretty pornographic." In 2010, the
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...
stated that there have been six challenges to the book in the United States since it started keeping records on bans and challenges in 1990, and that " st of the concerns were about sexually explicit material". In 2023, a Texas teacher was fired after assigning an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary to her middle school class, in a move that some are calling “a political attack on truth”. The eighth-grade school teacher was fired after officials with Hamshire-Fannett independent school district said the teacher presented the “inappropriate” book to students, reported KFDM.


Authenticity

As reported in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' in 2015, "When Otto Frank first published his daughter's red-checked diary and notebooks, he wrote a prologue assuring readers that the book mostly contained her words".Doreen Carvajal
Anne Frank's Diary Gains 'Co-Author' in Copyright Move
dated 13 November 2015
Although many
Holocaust deniers Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims: *Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...
, such as
Robert Faurisson Robert Faurisson (; born Robert Faurisson Aitken; 25 January 1929 – 21 October 2018) was a British-born French academic who became best known for Holocaust denial. Faurisson generated much controversy with several articles published in the '' ...
, have claimed that Anne Frank's diary was fabricated, critical and forensic studies of the text and the original
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
have supported its authenticity. The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation commissioned a forensic study of the manuscripts after the death of Otto Frank in 1980. The material composition of the original notebooks and ink, and the handwriting found within them and the loose version were extensively examined. In 1986, the results were published: the handwriting attributed to Anne Frank was positively matched with contemporary samples of Anne Frank's handwriting, and the paper, ink, and glue found in the diaries and loose papers were consistent with materials available in Amsterdam during the period in which the diary was written. The survey of her manuscripts compared an unabridged transcription of Anne Frank's original notebooks with the entries she expanded and clarified on loose paper in a rewritten form and the final edit as it was prepared for the English translation. The investigation revealed that all of the entries in the published version were accurate transcriptions of manuscript entries in Anne Frank's handwriting, and that they represented approximately a third of the material collected for the initial publication. The magnitude of edits to the text is comparable to other historical diaries such as those of
Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...
,
Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...
and
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
in that the authors revised their diaries after the initial draft, and the material was posthumously edited into a publishable manuscript by their respective executors, only to be superseded in later decades by unexpurgated editions prepared by scholars. Nazi sympathizer Ernst Römer accused Otto Frank of editing and fabricating parts of Anne's diary in 1980. Otto filed a lawsuit against him, and the court ruled that the diary was authentic. Römer ordered a second investigation, involving Hamburg's Federal Criminal Police Office (''Bundeskriminalamt'' (BKA)). That investigation concluded that parts of the diary were written with
ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Pakistani, and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali English and South Asian English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) ...
ink, which was not generally available in the 1940s. (The first ball point pens were produced in the 1940s but they did not become generally available until the 1950s.) Reporters were unable to reach out to Otto Frank for questions as he died around the time of the discovery. However, the ballpoint pen theory has mostly been discredited. There are only three instances where a ballpoint pen was used in the diary: on two scraps of paper that were added into the diary at a later date (the contents of which have never been considered Anne Frank's writing and are usually attributed to being Otto Frank's notes) and in the page numbers (also probably added by Otto Frank while organizing the writings and papers).


Copyright and ownership of the originals


Anne Frank Fonds

In his will, Otto Frank bequeathed the original manuscripts to the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. The copyright however belonged to the Anne Frank Fonds, a Switzerland-based foundation based in
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
which was the sole inheritor of Frank after his death in 1980. The organization is dedicated to the publication of the diary.


Expiration

According to the copyright laws in the European Union, as a general rule, rights of authors end seventy years after their death. Hence, the copyright of the diary expired on 1 January 2016. In the Netherlands, for the original publication of 1947 (containing parts of both versions of Anne Frank's writing), as well as a version published in 1986 (containing both versions completely), copyright initially would have expired not 50 years after the death of Anne Frank (1996), but 50 years after publication, as a result of a provision specific for
posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...
published works (1997 and 2036, respectively). When the copyright duration was extended to 70 years in 1995implementing the EU
Copyright Term Directive The Copyright Term Directive''2006/116/ECis a consolidated version of the former EU Directive harmonising the term of copyright protection, including all amendments made up to and including 2006. It replaces the text of the older directive. C ...
the special rule regarding posthumous works was abolished, but transitional provisions made sure that this could never lead to shortening of the copyright term, thus leading to expiration of the copyright term for the first version on 1 January 2016, but for the new material published in 1986 in 2036.Court of Amsterdam, 23 December 2015, The original Dutch version was made available online by
University of Nantes Nantes University () is a public university located in the city of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two satellite campuses located in Saint-Nazaire and La Roche-sur-Yon. The university ...
lecturer Olivier Ertzscheid and former member of the
French Parliament The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...
Isabelle Attard.


Authorship

In 2015, the Anne Frank Fonds made an announcement, as reported in ''The New York Times'', that the 1947 edition of the diary was co-authored by Otto Frank. According to Yves Kugelmann, a member of the board of the foundation, their expert advice was that Otto had created a new work by editing, merging, and trimming entries from the diary and notebooks and reshaping them into a "kind of collage", which had created a new copyright. Agnès Tricoire, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property rights, responded by warning the foundation to "think very carefully about the consequences". She added "If you follow their arguments, it means that they have lied for years about the fact that it was only written by Anne Frank." The foundation also relies on the fact that another editor,
Mirjam Pressler Mirjam Pressler, born Mirjam Gunkel (18 June 1940 – 16 January 2019) was a German novelist and translator. Being the author of more than 30 children's and teenage books, she also translated into German more than 300 works by other writers from ...
, had revised the text and added 25 percent more material drawn from the diary for a "definitive edition" in 1991, and Pressler was still alive in 2015, thus creating another long-lasting new copyright. The move was seen as an attempt to extend the copyright term. Attard had criticised this action only as a "question of money", and Ertzscheid concurred, stating, "It he diarybelongs to everyone. And it is up to each to measure its importance."


See also

*
List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims This is a list of Holocaust victims whose writings were published posthumously. Published in English or translated into English *Hinde Bergner (1870–1942): ''On Long Winter Nights: Memoirs of a Jewish Family in a Galician Township, 1870–1 ...
*
List of best-selling books This page provides lists of best-selling books and book series to date and in any language. ''"Best-selling"'' refers to the estimated number of copies sold of each book, rather than the number of books printed or currently owned. Comic book, Com ...
* List of people associated with Anne Frank * ''Le Monde'' 100 Books of the Century


References


Sources

* ; This edition, a new translation, includes material excluded from the earlier edition. *


Further reading


Copyright and ownership dispute

* *


Editions of the diary

* ''Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl'', Anne Frank, Eleanor Roosevelt (Introduction) and B.M. Mooyaart (translation). Bantam, 1993. (paperback). (Original 1952 translation) * ''The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition'', Harry Paape, Gerrold Van der Stroom, and David Barnouw (Introduction); Arnold J. Pomerans, B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday (translators); David Barnouw and Gerrold Van der Stroom (Editors). Prepared by the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation. Doubleday, 1989. * ''The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition'', Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler (Editors); Susan Massotty (Translator). Doubleday, 1991. * Anne Frank Fonds: ''Anne Frank: The Collected Works''. All official versions together with further images and documents. With background essays by
Gerhard Hirschfeld Gerhard Hirschfeld (born 19 September 1946 in Plettenberg, Germany) is a German historian and author. From 1989 to 2011, he was director of the Stuttgart-based Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte / Library of Contemporary History, and has been a pr ...
and
Francine Prose Francine Prose (born April 1, 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is a visiting professor of literature at Bard College, and was formerly president of PEN American Center. Life and career Born in Broo ...
. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019


Adaptations

* * '' The Beauty That Still Remains'', choral work by
Marcus Paus Marcus Nicolay Paus (; born 14 October 1979) is a Norwegian composer and one of the most performed contemporary Scandinavian composers. As a classical contemporary composer he is noted as a representative of a reorientation toward tradition, tonal ...
based on Frank's diary and written for the official 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Norway *


Other writing by Anne Frank

* Frank, Anne. '' Tales from the Secret Annex: Stories, Essay, Fables and Reminiscences Written in Hiding'', Anne Frank (1956 and revised 2003)


Publication history

* ''Lisa Kuitert: De uitgave van Het Achterhuis van Anne Frank'', in: ''De Boekenwereld'', Vol. 25 hdy dok


Translation information

*


Biography

* ''Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family'',
Miep Gies Hermine "Miep" Gies (; ; 15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010) was one of the Dutch citizens who hid Anne Frank, her family ( Otto, Margot, Edith) and four other Dutch Jews (Fritz Pfeffer, Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, Peter van Pels) ...
and
Alison Leslie Gold Alison Leslie Gold (born July 13, 1945) is an American author. Her books include ''Anne Frank Remembered'', ''Clairvoyant: the Imagined Life of Lucia Joyce'', ''The Devil's Mistress'', and ''Memories of Anne Frank''. She has written literary fict ...
. Simon & Schuster, 1988. (paperback). * ''The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank'',
Willy Lindwer Wolf "Willy" Lindwer (born 18 March 1946) is a Dutch documentary film producer, director, photographer and author. He is best known for his films on the Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity. Childhood and education W ...
. Anchor, 1992. (paperback). ** filmed as '' Laatste Zeven Maanden van Anne Frank'' (English title: The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank) in 1988, directed by
Willy Lindwer Wolf "Willy" Lindwer (born 18 March 1946) is a Dutch documentary film producer, director, photographer and author. He is best known for his films on the Holocaust, Israel and the Middle East, Judaism and Christianity. Childhood and education W ...
. * ''Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary – A Photographic Remembrance'', Rian Verhoeven, Ruud Van der Rol,
Anna Quindlen Anna Marie Quindlen (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist. Her ''New York Times'' column, Public and Private, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. Quindlen began her journalism career in 197 ...
(Introduction), Tony Langham (Translator) and Plym Peters (Translator). Puffin, 1995. (paperback). * ''Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend'', Hannah Goslar and Alison Gold. Scholastic Paperbacks, 1999. (paperback). * "''Memories Mean More to Us than Anything Else'': Remembering Anne Frank's ''Diary'' in the 21st century" by Pinaki Roy, ''The Atlantic Literary Review Quarterly'' (; ), New Delhi, 9(3), July–September 2008: 11–25. * ''An Obsession with Anne Frank: Meyer Levin and the Diary'', Lawrence Graver. University of California Press, 1995. * ''Roses from the Earth: The Biography of Anne Frank'', Carol Ann Lee. Penguin, 1999. * ''La porta di Anne'', Guia Risari. Mondadori, 2016. . * ''The Hidden Life of Otto Frank'', Carol Ann Lee. William Morrow, 2002. * ''Anne Frank: The Biography'', Melissa Müller. Bloomsbury, 1999. Updated and expanded edition in 2013, published by Metropolitan Books, 459 pages. . * ''My Name Is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank'', Jacqueline van Maarsen. Arcadia Books, 2007. * ''The Last Secret of the Secret Annex: The Untold Story of Anne Frank, Her Silent Protector, and a Family Betrayal'', Joop van Wijk-Voskuijl and Jeroen De Bruyn. Simon & Schuster, 2023. .


External links


The history of the diary of Anne Frank

About the Diary of Anne Frank

Anne's manuscripts

Online exhibition of Anne Frank's manuscripts

Anne Frank Quotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diary Of A Young Girl, The Anne Frank Diaries 1947 non-fiction books Books adapted into plays Non-fiction books adapted into films Books published posthumously Books about Anne Frank Obscenity controversies in literature Doubleday (publisher) books Dutch-language non-fiction books Dutch non-fiction literature Forgery controversies Jewish literature Memory of the World Register Public domain books Holocaust diaries Censored books Books by Anne Frank Collaborative non-fiction books