I have read The Diary of Anne Frank a couple of times now, and every time the tension building more and more as I get closer and closer to the end. The diary entries end abruptly with 20 pages left in my copy (the afterword) - I was still not ready for it.
Reading Anne Frank's diary is such a personal experience. She doesn't hold back, of course never thinking that her diary would pass through the hands of millions of people one day, is unswervingly honest and the reader is entirely encompassed in her world. The reader sees Anne's hopes and dreams, her trials and little triumphs, her good days and her bad. It is the war, from the point of view of a teenage girl who is locked away in an annexe for two years without stepping outdoors until the Gestapo come for her and her family, for the simple crime of being Jewish.
This diary is so important as a historical document, as are all the stories that came out of the war. It is evidence of a father's love and devotion to his family and their memory, it tells the story of ordinary people swept up in a war they didn't ask for. It shows how people fight to keep one another safe in those hard times. There are many heroes in this story.
I cannot read this diary without being moved to tears every single time. I think the publication of this diary has done a whole lot of good in the world as it is now, and I hope it will continue to.
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