I've been reading the "Diary of Anne Frank" this week. Except this edition is not the one we read in school. About ten years ago, the Anne Frank foundation in Switzerland allowed publishers to re-release her diary in its entirety.
Previous to this, Anne's father had only allowed specific edited passages to be published. And I can understand why he would feel that way. Reading over the passages I feel somewhat like a voyeur... Almost every entry is explicit--the mind and soul of any teenage girl looking forward to "impending menstruation," struggling over the clashes with her mother, suffering from want of attention from her father, and discovering boys. Sometimes I think "Why did you write this?..." But then I remember that she never expected this to be published or that anyone would ever see it.
What touches me most is that, though she certainly faced some exposure to the horrors of the Nazi regime (via radio, etc), she seemed wholly unable to see her life and the future without optimism.
Last night, after reading passages for an hour I flipped to the afterword--a cold and frank paragraph that snuffed out the life and vibrancy of a stubborn, vulnerable, candid and witty little girl.
Anne must have died in late February or early March. [Her body was] probably dumped in Bergen-Belsen's mass graves.
I couldn't help but pray more fervently in gratitude, this morning, for the freedoms I enjoy but don't always appreciate.
2 comments:
I must read this book. It sounds like it will provide me with much-needed perspective when the minutiae of my daily life get me down.
Yes, Esther, you will love it. So interesting.
Post a Comment