Two years after going into hiding, in 1944, the family was discovered (only months after D-Day and the slow turning of the tide against Germany in WWII).

The family was sent to Auschwitz and later, Anne and her sister were transferred to a second concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen.

Anne was 15 when she perished with her sister in 1945, only months before liberation.

friend who had helped the family in hiding

 had gathered some belongings after their arrest. She passed them on to Anne’s one surviving family member: her father.

Her diary is first published as the Secret Annex in 1947 and remains an inspiration to the world until this day.

This is a beautiful resource for further information: 

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

June 12, 1929, Anne Frank is born. 13 years later, in 1942, during the rise of Nazi Germany, she receives her famous diary. A month later, her family would go into hiding at a secret annex built on site of their business in Amsterdam to escape the Nazis. Read more on our source page.