By Sara Appel-Lennon

SAN DIEGO--Francine Prose first read The Diary of a Young Girl as a child herself. After much research, Prose memorialized Anne Frank as a gifted writer and strong role-model, mature beyond her years.

Prose wrote “Anne’s book is a testament to certain individuals’ ability to develop, at an early age, a sophisticated moral consciousness, and to maintain compassion and humor under the most intense stress.”

“Memories mean more to me than dresses” Anne Frank wrote in her diary, when she and her sister, Margot were called out of the room to pack their belongings when Margot was to be deported for missing the curfew.

Anne Frank received the diary on her 13th birthday. After a final revision, she addressed her entries with “Dear Kitty”, named after Kitty Francken, a character in Crissy van Marxveldt’s novels, a series which Anne often read.

Anne originally titled her book, Het achterhuis,“the house behind ” or “the annex.” Anne and seven other residents hid upstairs in the annex behind her father’s work place since the surrounding buildings kept it hidden from the street.

After a year of being crammed in the annex, the residents played a game, "If I were free the first thing that I would do.” Many of the residents said they wanted to take a bath or eat a good meal. In contrast Anne Frank‘s father, Otto Frank, said that he would first visit Mr. Voskuijl in the hospital who was dying of stomach cancer. Voskuijl was the gentleman who built the book case to block the attic.

Prose referred to Otto Frank as “a pillar of strength.” This made it difficult for his wife and for Anne. Otto Frank often made visits to the Jewish hospital, which is where he was on the day Margot was called to be deported.

Prose wrote that Anne Frank made note of Anti-Semitism in one sentence. Anne Frank wrote “We pingpongers are very partial to ice cream, especially in summer when it gets warm at the game, so we usually finish up with a visit to the nearest ice-cream shop, Delphi or Oasis where Jews are allowed.”

A large number of Jews in Holland died because the Nazis convinced many Dutch policemen to arrest Jews, and Dutch citizens were offered money for turning in their Jewish neighbors. Because of this, only 200 German policemen were stationed in Amsterdam.

Three men, Kleinman, Kugler and Voskuijl, enabled Anne Frank, and the seven residents to hide in the annex for 25 months.

Anne Frank had a mature ability to observe her surroundings and herself. She noticed when her father, Otto Frank, made efforts to connect with his wife, Edith Frank, by discussing the Charles Dickens book he read, only to be rebuffed. Anne Frank noticed how the other seven annex residents ate in ways that indicated personality characteristics. Anne Frank further noticed how she had changed when she revised her own writing of which there were three revisions, A, B, and C.

Prose hinted at how Anne Frank’s feelings changed toward Peter. Prose wrote “He [Peter] is lit by the refracted glow of Anne’s interest. Like Anne Frank, in one sentence Prose made her point. The author used “mercurial” to refer to Peter and Anne, to indicate their adolescence.

The author viewed Otto Frank’s edits of his daughter’s diary as fatherly. When Meyer Levin adapted the book to a play, Levin complained that there was not enough Jewishness in the play and he claimed that Anne Frank would have agreed with him.

Otto Frank wanted the diary to impact a larger population, especially since there weren’t many Jews left after the war.

When Otto Frank asked a couple to take over as playwrights, Levin sued Otto Frank for plagiarism. Holocaust deniers sued because of the claim that Otto Frank fabricated the diary for financial gain. After many law suits, The Netherlands Institute for War requested a forensic science lab to investigate the diary.

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The diary was authenticated based upon the hand-writing, ink, the diary’s cloth material, and the writing itself.

In preparation for the film, thousands of women auditioned for the role of Anne Frank. because Otto Frank wanted to decide who would act as his daughter. He selected Audrey Hepburn, who was Anne’s age and half Dutch. But Hepburn declined because of her sad memories since she also was in Holland during the war.

By reading Prose’s book, I discovered that one of Anne Frank’s famous quotes had often been taken out of context,

“. In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. “
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….” It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all of my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of a confusion, misery, and death... I hear the ever approaching thunder which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions, and yet if I look up into the heavens, I think it will all come right, that this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”

Anne Frank is not Pollyanna, She has a need to have faith that it will all turn out OK. At one point in her diary, she tells Peter that he has to believe in something. It doesn’t matter what it is. Prose wrote “She, [Anne Frank] alone, dares to admit that she wants to believe that people are basically good at heart.”

This speech reminds me of Victor Frankl’s famous speech in Man’s Search for Meaning.

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

My favorite part of the book was when Prose shared her students’ reactions to the diary when she taught the material at Bard College. “It is where Anne hides to survive”, wrote James Malloy, from Bard College, class of 2010. Malloy drew an analogy between Anne Frank hiding in the annex and hiding her thoughts and feelings in the pages of her own secret annex, her diary.

I found Anne Frank’s story heart-wrenching, yet I felt compelled to finish reading the book. Anne Frank was an accomplished writer and mature young adult with great insight and an indomitable character.

What would have happened If Anne Frank had been freed? One will never know. The story of Anne Frank’s life instructs us to take a stand against prejudice and discrimination. It is for this reason that I think Otto Frank had his daughter’s book published.

I can imagine this book being required reading for a college class. Prose was successful in giving background information about the book, the life, and the after life of Anne Frank. I commend Prose for memorializing Anne Frank in this way.

“We owe it to Anne Frank that at long last she be taken seriously as the writer she really was, before the Disney people market her as their next popular heroine, Pocahontas-style.” wrote Prose.

Appel-Lennon, a San Diego based freelancer,may be contacted at appels@jewishsightseeing.com