Homeschool Unit Study: Anne Frank

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Little did young Anne Frank (1929-1945) know that her personal diaries would someday be read by millions of people and become the important historical document that it is today. Frank was a German-born Jew whose family fled to Amsterdam in 1933 when the Nazis took control of her home country.

Hitler's Nazi Party took control of Netherlands in 1940. The totalitarian government implemented strict rules and unfair practices regarding the country's Jewish residents. For instance, Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were forced leave the schools they were attending to go to an all Jewish school. Otto Frank, Anne's father, decided to sign his business over to a non-Jewish friend in order to save it. Life in Amsterdam drastically changed.

One day, Anne saw a beautiful red-and-white checkered autograph book in an Amsterdam store window. She dreamed of having that book where she could fill the blank pages with thoughts, feelings and her daily activities. As a surprise for her thirteenth birthday, she received the coveted book. She started filling those blank pages immediately. Her first entry was recorded on June 20, 1942.

On July 5, 1942, Margot, received a letter ordering her to report to a work camp. This forced the entire family to go into hiding. Otto created a secret and hidden living space in the attic of his business. He also made arrangement with his trusted employees to bring his family some food and news about the outside world. Anne Frank continued to journal about her life and the daily activities in that small secret annex.

The Franks were joined by other Jewish families in their hiding place. After two years of hiding, Anne and seven others were discovered by the Gestapo. An unknown informant had betrayed the Franks which resulted in their discovery and capture. The Franks and the other inhabitants of the small hidden apartment were taken by the Nazi party to concentration camps.

Life in the concentration camps were unbearable. Anne's mother was murdered almost immediately. Anne and Margot where transported to another facility and were starved and beaten. It is believed that both Anne and Margot died of typhus in the winder of 1945, just a short time before the end of the war. Otto Frank was the only person from the secret hiding place who survived the Holocaust.

After World War II, Otto Frank learned that he was the only surviving member of his family. One of his former employees had discovered Anne's diary after the Frank's had been captured. She had stored it away in her desk drawer with hopes to return it to Anne someday. She returned it to Anne's father instead, who then decided to publish the works.

Today, The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, has become one of the most widely read first-hand accounts of the Holocaust, with over 30 million copies sold.

It's important for us to learn about mistakes made by humanity so that we, as a society, do not repeat them. The unit study you create will bring the story of Anne Frank to life for you and your student or class. You will begin to understand not only the historical facts of World War II and the Holocaust, but will get to know a young Jewish girl who live through one of the most horrific times in world history.