In 1933, the Nazis began to execute their plan to round up all the Jews within Europe and relocate them into concentration camps. There, they would be executed or forced to labor until death.
In 1942, when the Nazis began to invade their country, the Frank family, who were Jewish, went into hiding in an attic of a warehouse and office building. The Franks’ daughter, Anne, kept a diary throughout their entire stay in the so-called “Secret Annexe.” Although all the members of the Frank family, except Mr. Otto Frank, perished during the reign of the Nazis, Anne’s diary is still in existence today. Minutes before the Frank’s were captured in their hiding place after a two-year stay, Anne wrote in her diary the words, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” How could a young girl who had endured so much torture say such a thing? The answer is in the story of her undying courage and hope. Before Anne Frank went into hiding, she lead a blissful and joyous life.
She was always surrounded by friends and boys alike, and her family was well-to-do. She was torn away from her happiness and placed into the harsh and cruel reality of the Nazi’s realm at only thirteen years of age. All this only because she was Jewish. She stayed locked up in the top level of the warehouse with her family and another for almost twenty-five months, never being able to step foot outside. Such repression and life of fear would make almost any teenager completely depressed and more miserable than words can say.
However, Anne Frank managed to keep her hope for a better tomorrow and her respect for the human race a feat so great for such a young girl. Anne made a very powerful statement in her last words in her beloved diary. To truly believe such a thing after being abused by the Nazis is quite remarkable, indeed. I am very sure that most people, including myself, would have thought that the world was completely corrupt and humans were naturally cruel if they’d have gone through such times.
By saying that all people are really good at heart, she was also saying that the Nazis were truly good at heart. She didn’t feel hatred for her abusers, but sympathy because they stooped so low and were so prejudiced and ignorant. I believe that Anne had the ability to say such a thing because of her great unselfishness and love for all of God’s creatures. Although Anne had not yet been to a concentration camp when she wrote her last lines, she still possessed the fear of the Nazis and of the horrible fate that so many other Jews were facing at the time. I also believe, that if Anne could have written in her diary after she had gone to the awful concentration camps, she would have said the exact same things, and would have had an even larger amount of sympathy for the undeserving victims.
She was to become one of them. Because of her cheerfulness and undying courage, Anne Frank was able to keep up the hopes of her family members as well as the Van Daan’s during their time in hiding. Her never-ending love for all people was fueled by the fact that she would never let anyone’s cruelty and power bring her spirits to the ground. Anne died at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945, yet her voice still lives on through her famous diary.
Even the Nazi’s, who had killed over five million Jews by the end of World War II, could not diminish the hope for peace of a fourteen-year-old girl named Anne Frank.
