1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brainstud a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: Anne Frank's story of fear and laughter, of teen angst 3 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: and young love, of unspeakable horror and unbreakable hope is 4 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: as gripping and relevant in today's volatile world as it 5 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: was when she wrote it in nineteen forty two through 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,720 Speaker 1: Her diary was first published in Dutch, the language in 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: which she wrote, in nineteen forty seven. It's now been 9 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 1: translated into more than seventy languages and has sold more 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: than thirty five million copies. It's a testament to the story, 11 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: one that's both personal and universal, and it's important to 12 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: the historical record. It's equally a tribute to the storyteller. 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: From the time that The Diary of Anne Frank was 14 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: first published, skulls have poured over it, compared its different versions, 15 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: dissected every page, every entry, every passage, to put Anne 16 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: and her work into appropriate perspectives. In doing so, new 17 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: images of the author have slowly emerged. She's morphed from 18 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: a wide eyed and precocious child, but caught in one 19 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: of history's most tragic episodes, to a curious teen on 20 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 1: the cusp of adulthood and an exceptional young writer discovering 21 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: herself in a world unhinged. Before the article this episode 22 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with historian Edna 23 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: Friedberg of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as she said, 24 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: Anne's story has changed in that it's acquired more texture 25 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: and nuance over the decades to have her not just 26 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: be some sort of beatified martyr, but a teenaged girl 27 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: with mixed emotions who could possibly be annoying and a 28 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: little arrogant. People now have discovered sections that had been 29 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: edited before about her blooming sexuality, but all sorts of 30 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: things that just make her more of a human being 31 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: and less of an archetype. Today, let's talk about some 32 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: of the less familiar details of Anne Frank's story. One 33 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: piece that may be forgotten is that it begins as 34 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: an immigrant story. Born into a Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany, 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty nine, Anne and her family fled to 36 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: Amsterdam in the summer of nineteen thirty three, as Adolf 37 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: Hitler's Nazi regime came to power in the Netherlands, she 38 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 1: entered school and learned to speak Dutch. Her father Otto, 39 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: opened a small business. The Franks built a new life, 40 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: but in May of nineteen forty, with Germany continuing their 41 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: march through Europe, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, and Anne's 42 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: life was thrown into new turmoil. She was ordered into 43 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: a Jewish only school, and, like all Jewish people under occupation, 44 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: made to live under separate and strict laws. A couple 45 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: of years later, as most of the world descended into war, 46 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: the Nazis called anne older sister Margo back to Germany, 47 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: supposedly to work in a so called labor camp. Fearing 48 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: the worst, Auto moved the entire Frank family himself, his wife, Edith, Margo, 49 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: and Anne into hiding in a secret layer of rooms 50 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: in the back of his business. The date was July 51 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: sixth of nineteen forty two. It's there, in the secret 52 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: annex on a canal in Amsterdam, that Anne, her family, 53 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: and four other Jewish people spent the next two years 54 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: hiding from the Nazis. It's there that Anne, who had 55 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: turned thirteen just before slipping into hiding, wrote the bulk 56 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: of her diary, how Stuffworks. Also spoke with Maureen MacNeil, 57 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: who spent nearly seven years as the director of Education 58 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: at the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect in New York. 59 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: She said, my own reaction as a teenager who wanted 60 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: to be a writer, she really was committed to personal transformation. 61 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: You can see that in her writing she wrestled with 62 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: structural injustice, and in the midst of that she refused 63 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: to live in a world without love. All of that 64 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: introspection is evident early on in Anne's writing. Here, just 65 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: weeks before her move into the Secret Annex, and describes 66 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: a typical school day drama. She wrote, our entire class 67 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: is quaking in its boots. The reason, of course, is 68 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: the upcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who will 69 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: be promoted to the next grade and who will be 70 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: kept back. If you ask me, there are so many 71 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: dummies that about a quarter of the class should be 72 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: kept back. But teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth. 73 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: Maybe this time they'll be unpredictable in the right direction 74 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:47,760 Speaker 1: for a change. Once in the Secret Annex, Anne's diary 75 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: served as a way to both pass the time and 76 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: hone her burgeoning skills as a writer and as a 77 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: friend and confidante. She often addressed her entries to a 78 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,840 Speaker 1: series of friends, both real and imaginary, such as her 79 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: school friend Jack Leane and a character from a popular 80 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: novel series named Kitty, as well as other characters of 81 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: her own invention. She covered in often harsh details, the 82 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: seemingly mundane that run ins with her mother and squabbles 83 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: with others. In the annex she was blushingly honest about 84 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: her own insecurities, and typically for a kid her age, 85 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: wondered about her own looks and her emerging sexuality. In 86 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: passages kept from the original published version, as she described 87 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: in great detail her changing body. In pages only recently 88 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: revealed of Anne had covered them with brown paper, she 89 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,160 Speaker 1: offered thoughts on sex and prostitution, and as the months 90 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,279 Speaker 1: in hiding wore on, she wrote achingly of falling in 91 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: love with a fellow hideaway, Peter van Pells. At least 92 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 1: three versions of the diary exist, the first, of course, 93 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,280 Speaker 1: being the diary as Anne originally wrote it. The second 94 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: is an edit of her own making, as she hoped 95 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 1: to publish a book based on the diary, spurred partially 96 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: by a Dutch announcement in March of nineteen forty four 97 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: that officials were looking to collect personal accounts from the occupation. 98 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,080 Speaker 1: In this version, she removed some of the earlier and 99 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: harsher parts of her diary, especially the entries on her 100 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: love for Peter and some of the more stringent criticism 101 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: of her mother. The third version is a further edit 102 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: created by Anne's father Auto after her death and the 103 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: war's end, when he decided to try to get it published. 104 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: The third version is the most popularly known, and it's 105 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: a bit whitewashed. For example, it does not include Ann's 106 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,919 Speaker 1: references to her developing curiosity about sex, which would have 107 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:49,479 Speaker 1: been especially controversial in the nineteen forties and fifties. Scattered 108 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: throughout the diary, mixed in with the every day is 109 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: an acute recognition of the horrors that existed outside the 110 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: secret annex. Anne described a permeator fear in her family's 111 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: prison and wrestled with the uncertainty of what lay ahead. 112 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,679 Speaker 1: In an entry in January of nineteen forty three, she wrote, 113 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: I could spend hours telling you about the suffering the 114 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: war has brought, but I'd only make myself more miserable. 115 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: All we can do is wait as calmly as possible 116 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: for it to end. A Jews and Christians alike are waiting. 117 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: The whole world is waiting, and many are waiting for death. 118 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: Friedberg said, I think part of what makes her diary 119 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: so powerful and resident for so many people has to 120 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: do with the circumstances in which she writes it. And 121 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: by that I don't mean the Holocaust, but because she 122 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: was in a cloistered hiding place for so long, her 123 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: diary is her constant companion. They're in this attic, they 124 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: are terrified, they're also taken out of life. That gives 125 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: a clarity of voice. In early April of nineteen forty four, 126 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: Anne wrote, when I write, I can shake off all 127 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived. But 128 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: and that's a big question, will I ever be able 129 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: to write something great? Will I ever become a journalist 130 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: or a writer? I hope so oh, I hope so 131 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: very much, because writing allows me to record everything, all 132 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: my thoughts, ideals and fantasies. On August first of nineteen 133 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: forty four, more than two years after going into hiding 134 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,319 Speaker 1: in the secret annex, Anne's awareness of herself and her 135 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: place in the world may have been at its peak. 136 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: She wrote about a personality split into a flippant and 137 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: fun loving on the outside, but purer, deeper, and finer 138 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: on the inside. She wrote, I keep trying to find 139 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: a way to become what I'd like to be and 140 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: what I could be if only there were no other 141 00:08:54,360 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: people in the world. That was the last entry Ann's diary. 142 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: Three days later, on the morning of August fourth of 143 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: nineteen forty four, the Nazis discovered the eight people hiding 144 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: in the Secret Annex and sent them to the Auschwitz 145 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: concentration camp in Poland, where Edith died in January of 146 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five. Margo and Ann were transferred to the 147 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: bergen Belsen concentration camp in Germany. In February of nineteen 148 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: forty five, just two months before the Allies liberated bergen Belsen, 149 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: Margo and Ann died as well. Margo was nineteen and 150 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: Anne was fifteen years old. Immediately after the war, Otto, 151 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: the sole survivor from the Secret Annex, returned to Amsterdam 152 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: and recovered Anne's diaries. Two years later, he first published 153 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 1: his slightly edited version. Friedberg said Ann's story resonates today 154 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: for a few reasons. One is because of the power, clarity, 155 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: and authenticity of her voice. The second is because you 156 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: feel that she almost made it. The Frank family and 157 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 1: the other four Dutch Jews in hiding with them survived 158 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: for two years because of the bravery and sustained support 159 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 1: of others non Jews. That is inspiring, but the tragedy 160 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: is that someone betrayed them. She almost lived to see liberation. 161 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: That is another part of what makes her story so 162 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: appealing to people. They see in her the symbol of 163 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,319 Speaker 1: a missed chance at redemption, a missed chance at a 164 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: happy ending, a gnawing questions surrounding Anne and her friends 165 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 1: and family, and the secret annex remains eighty years later. 166 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: Who did turn them in? In the twenty teens, a 167 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: group of cold case investigators led by a former FBI 168 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: agent delved into the question, and they published their findings 169 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: in a book in twenty twenty two, But it seems 170 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: to have raised more questions than it answered. Many theories abound, 171 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: other groups are still looking into it. We may never know, 172 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: and other aspects of the story are still developing. In 173 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: July of twenty eighteen, a Researchers at the Anne Frank 174 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,520 Speaker 1: House in Amsterdam and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum revealed 175 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: that before going into hiding in the secret annex, Otto 176 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: tried to emigrate with his family to America, only to 177 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: be stymied by stringent American immigration laws at the time. 178 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: Some subjects and aspects of Anne's writing are bleak, the 179 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: dual threats of bigotry and fascism, the plight of immigrants 180 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: and refugees, the terrors of war. Anne grappled with those horrors, 181 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: and the world still faces them today. Yet Anne also 182 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: wrote of love and understanding. She wrote of hope. McNeil said, 183 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,840 Speaker 1: when she was looking at the blank page, she wasn't 184 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: just a girl, she wasn't just a chatterbox. She wasn't 185 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: just a refugee. She was a human being wanting to 186 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: make a difference and willing to take the risk to 187 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: put it on the page. So her dream came true. 188 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: She is in the Western literary canon. Her work is 189 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: just as important as Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman or 190 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:27,440 Speaker 1: anybody else. Anne never got a chance to live the 191 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: life that she dreamed of, but all of these years later, 192 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: her words endure. Today's episode is based on the article 193 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: Anne Frank's Diary is Still Spilling Its Secrets on how 194 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com, written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is 195 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks 196 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klin. For more 197 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 198 00:12:55,280 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.