The beautiful mind of a young girl: Remembering Anne Frank on her birthday

We may remember Anne Frank from reading the ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ for school or in our spare time. We may have even visited the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam. Some may think of her as another one of the many Jewish victims of the Holocaust. But she is so much more than that.

Anne Frank doesn’t just keep the memory of the Holocaust atrocities alive; she gave a glimpse into the complex and sensitive psyche of a young girl.

Her father Otto Frank’s poignant words when he read Anne’s diary reflect these hidden nuances that Anne left behind in ink, “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.”

It is funny how Anne wrote that, “Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year old school girl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing.” She had no idea about the impact that her writing would have on the world, and yet her wisdom continues to mould young minds even today.

Here are some of the most beautiful quotes from Anne’s heartbreakingly inspiring and touching diary as we remember her on her birth anniversary:

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in the German town of Frankfurt am Main.

Her mother was Edith Frank, and her father, Otto Frank, was a lieutenant in the German army during World War I, later becoming a businessman in Germany and then Netherlands. Hitler’s rise to power put an end to the family’s carefree life, following which Otto Frank and his wife Edith decided to leave Germany and move to Amsterdam.

When Germany troops invaded Amsterdam in 1940, Anne and her family had to hide in a concealed room called ‘Secret Annex’ - a room above her father’s office - cramped with four other Jewish families.

Shortly before going into hiding Anne received a diary for her thirteenth birthday. She started writing straightaway and during her time in hiding she wrote about events in the secret annex and about herself.

Anne Frank came down with typhus and died in 1945, just weeks before the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in which she was imprisoned was liberated.

Anne Frank would be 87 if she were still alive today.