I just finished reading this, and I also ordered another book similar that is by Miep, a woman that was in hiding with the Franks. I was blown away at how much I didn't know about the war and all that happened. Has anyone else read this? Is this a little too controversial to post?

hmmm...i read it, but could not finish it...

I've read this a few times, both my sons have as well, but it made my younger son cry. Too close to him, I guess. I'd like to suggest Maus I A Survivor's Tale My Father Bleeds History. It presents the same facts, in the same shocking detail, but because of the format, it's a little easier on the heart.

I wouldn't have thought anything written over half a century ago would be controversial! The book is on the schools' lists in many Caribbean islands and also in the UK.

I read Anne Frank's diary and also visited the house in which she and her family hid in Amsterdam. The visit really brought the book alive.

Some years ago I was in London and having tea in a Viennese coffee house in Swiss Cottage, very elegant, with a pianist and epergnes of little cakes on the tables, and a lady was pointed out to me as being Anne Frank's stepmother. Not that Anne had ever known her as she married Anne's father after the war. She would have known her as a neighbour though.

WOW Petra X, what a great experience.

Kandice, I will definitley look up that book. I just love History, it was my favortie subject wayyyyy back when in High School.. LOL

I didn't know what I was in for when I started the book, it was the Afterward that got me. I get choked up just thinking about it.

Me too, and it was just so hard to take, because, really, she was a LITTLE GIRL!!!!! You can hear about it, facts, figures, descriptions, whatever, andit's shocking, as it should be, but from a little girl...bawl fest.

Terra I have the same book by Miep. I plan on reading it.

I loved Anne Frank's diary. My heart goes out to all those who suffered so dearly at the hands of the nazi's.

Petra: That would be neat to go to her house that she was hiding in. Did you get pictures?

I don't understand why anyone would ban a book like this. Actually it is problably nazi's they want to pretend that nothing bad really happened.

Emilee wrote: "Petra: That would be neat to go to her house that she was hiding in. Did you get pictures? ..."

If you Google Anne Frank's house, you get masses of results.

Quite a different book that I read last month was Fragments of Isabella
by Isabella Leitner. This is a memoir told by one of the three surviving sisters of a family of five young girls, a boy (he also survived) and their mother who were all sent to the camps. Its how it really was, a hell that is documented very briefly. The part we didn't get from Anne Frank whose diary ended before she was sent to the camps where she died.

Years and years ago in New York City I saw the Broadway production of the Diary of Anne Frank. I can still hear the boots of the soldier when their hiding place was discovered. That was where the play ended.
The whole audience gasped. Then absolute silence as they left the theatre.. There were no words to say.

Petra X wrote: "Quite a different book that I read last month was Fragments of Isabella..."

One of the greatest books I have ever read is If This is a Man by Primo Levi, about his experience in Auschwitz. It is incredibly powerful and moving. I discovered him via The Periodic Table, which is a collection of stories about episodes in his life, including at Auschwitz but also before and after. This man was an industrial chemist (in part this was what saved his life), but he was also an increibly talented writer.

Another interesting book from a Holocaust survivor is Ka-tzetnik's House of Dolls. This is about a 14 year old schoolgirl who was sent to the camps and chosen to be in the brothel where SS guards could relieve their sexual tensions. Did I put that nicely? I can't think of a more horrid thing. You learn of concentration camp life from a completely different aspect.

There is some doubt over the author of the book, but most sources say it is a man. However, I think I know who the author is. When I was a kid and went out to work on a kibbutz for a summer, the boss of the kitchens, a very tall and stern-looking woman with a big, ragged number tattooed on her forearm, had been a forced prostitute to the Nazis for a number of years in a concentration camp beginning when she was 14 and who now wrote books. Maybe it was her, maybe not. But we were all terrified by her and her everyday cruelties to us teenage girls. What could you say though to a woman who had been through that?

I think "Diary of Anne Frank" is a terrific way for young people to start learning about this tragic part of our history. It's so easy for them to relate to being that age so it really pulls them in to learn about the Holocaust. It's so important that people write and read about this because there are so many crackpots out there saying it never happened despite all evidence to the contrary. Soon there will be no more survivors to contradict them--a written history is essential.

I am a third generation of Holocaust survivor. My grandfather and his brother were the only survivors of the Holocaust from my fathers side. They had also a sister that was hiding in the mountains in Athens, Greece. From both sides of my family I lost a big presenteges. From my mothers side survived three people my grand father one of the fled to the mountains and became a partizan, one of his brothers lieved in Spain and his other brother was in Bulgaria in a work camp.
The United Nations have the Holocaust memorial day on the 27 of January. In Israel the date changes every year. This year waas on the 21 of April.
The worst thing about Anna frank's story is that she died a before he cosentration camp was freed. She was so young and she new how to write, that's a big virtue for me.
There is a novel called The Boy Who Loved Anna Frank that looks preey good you can try to read it. Here is the summary that I found in www.amazon.com :
From Booklist
Peter Van Pels hid in the attic with Anne Frank and died in the camps just before liberation. But what if he survived, forged a new identity, and came to the U.S. after the war? Feldman imagines the young immigrant, who denies his Jewishness and his horrific past, marries, raises a happy family, and succeeds in business. He reveals his identity to no one, including his Jewish wife, and he never speaks of the Holocaust cruelty he witnessed. But when the Diary, edited by Otto Frank, is an international bestseller, followed by the play and the movie, Peter can no longer suppress his survivor guilt, his fury at the exploitation and cover-ups, and his traumatic breakdown. The fiction is sometimes far-fetched, especially the perfect wife (even if it is the '50s). But the history will grab the many devoted readers of the Diary, as will Peter's rage at the falsely uplifting message that "people are really good at heart." Feldman strips away the reverential veneer to show the secrets and lies.

WOW Avigail. I don't know a whole lot about the Holocaust, so I feel that I shouldn't say too much. But my heart truley goes out to all that were involved. That being every generation and every friend as well. it broke my heart reading about her life. She was so happy, so carefree and loving her life. Just for it to all be taken away because of what God made her. I'm sorry but it is really a touchy subject, and I don't know if this is too much, but I just can not stand racist people. That being dislikeing someone by their looks, their beliefs, nationality, anything. People are different for a reason. I personally love it. I am a major people person, we all have a heart, we are all built the same, but we are all different, and that difference is, our personality. Oh I just get so emotional. I am sorry. But I am really glad I posted this. :-)

Right now I am going between the Caribbean and London, helping my brother and sister-in-law to nurse my mum who has terminal lung cancer. One of the things we have been doing is checking out nursing homes as she has to move from the hospice she is in. Several of the nursing homes say that out of respect for Holocaust survivors (who find it very difficult to be in any institution generally) the staff do not wear uniforms. Apparently, senility and Alzeheimer's bring an increased frequency of flashbacks, so these poor people often end their lives stuck in the terror of their youth and it is very difficult to assure them that their awful nightmares and illusions are history, not the present.

Petra X - I am praying for you mum and your family! That is a tough thing to go through, my grandfather had lung cancer, it was so hard to see him go through that. The fact that the nurses and staff don't wear uniforms is awesome. I would have never have thought of that. When my grandfather went through all the chemo and meds he really lost site of what was reality. Such a sad terrible thing. :-(

Terra - how did you know the end was near, like a week away? I hope that isn't too insensitive a question but I live in the Caribbean and my mother in London and I would like to make sure that I could be there in my mother's last week or so. (My mother is supposed to have only weeks to live, but weeks as in 6-10 not just a few, we think).

Wow Avigail. I am so glad that you shared your family story with us. I am glad that some of your family survived.

I can't believe how horrific it must have been living in Europe that were sadly effected by the Nazi's terror. I enjoy hearing the stories of preseervence and enduring the tragdies. I hope that as a race of humans that we can learn from the mistakes that Hitler and Nazi's made.

Petra: How are things? I am still thinking of you daily.

Petra X wrote: "Terra - how did you know the end was near, like a week away? I hope that isn't too insensitive a question but I live in the Caribbean and my mother in London and I would like to make sure that I c..."

Hi hun! I went ahead and sent you a message. :-) Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

I just got, Anne Frank Remembered, by Miep Gies! I am so excited, I can't wait to read it!

Just picked up "Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary - A Photographic Remembrance", which has photos of Anne and her family, as well as the house they hid in ... beautiful remembrance of a young life shortened by the horror of the Holocaust.

Thanks for the recommend Liz. That too sounds like a good book.

I did go to the Anne Frank muesum online. Very interesting photos.

A few years ago I got into reading books of the Nazi period. One book that I really enjoyed was In MY Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke. She was a Polish woman who was forced to work in the kitchens of the German officers mess. The hotel where she worked was next to the getto. She started by slipping food under the fence. It's really a good book.

Kandice wrote: "I've read this a few times, both my sons have as well, but it made my younger son cry. Too close to him, I guess. I'd like to suggest [book:Maus I A Survivor's Tale My Father Bleeds History|15196..."

Awesome book. It made me think more than AF's Diary.

I read this book sometime ago. Ann Frank was amazing and inspiring. The horror she and her family had to endure is unfathomable but real. She never let her situation break her spirit which was the amazing part of the story. This really made me appreciate my life and all that I have even more. Excellent book!!