When I look at the time line, I feel frustrated and angry.
Commemorative stamp honoring Anne Frank, from Germany, 1979.
On August 4, 1944, the German Army in the Netherlands raided the warehouse where Anne Frank’s family hid from the Nazis since 1942. As you know, Anne died in a concentration camp shortly after — only her father survived from her immediate family.
History students will recognize that this was nearly two months after D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy that set off the events leading to liberation of Europe from Nazi rule and the collapse of Hitler’s grand visions of conquest. How could Nazi minions not know their time was limited, and oppression ultimately futile?
Germany surrendered in May 1945. In nine months, the Frank family would not need to hide. Anne died in March 1945, less than eight weeks before the surrender of Germany.
More:
- The Anne Frank Center in the U.S.A.
- Anne Frank Museum, Amsterdam; teachers’ page; students page
- “Anne Frank arrested 70 years ago today; read her last diary entry,” The Independent
Photos from the liberation of Amsterdam, which occurred on May 6, 1945:
This is an encore post.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 