PREVIOUSLY ASKED IN:
WBPSC Miscellaneous Preliminary 2019
Answer
German
Explanation
Anne Frank, the author of the globally renowned biographical book 'The Diary of a Young Girl', was born a German-Jewish girl in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1933, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power, her family fled persecution and relocated to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Despite living in the Netherlands, her original nationality was German (though she lost her citizenship in 1941 under anti-Semitic Nazi laws, rendering her officially stateless). The diary documents her life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Key Points
- > Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929.
- > She affectionately named her diary 'Kitty'.
- > The original diary was written in the Dutch language while she was hiding in the 'Secret Annex'.
- > She tragically died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 15.
- > Her father, Otto Frank, the only surviving member of the family, published the diary in 1947.
Additional Information
World War II Holocaust Literature
| Book Name | Author | Core Theme / Setting |
|---|---|---|
| The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank | A Jewish teen's diary in hiding |
| The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | John Boyne | Fictional tale of two boys at a death camp |
| Night | Elie Wiesel | Memoir of surviving Auschwitz |
| Schindler's Ark | Thomas Keneally | True story of Oskar Schindler saving Jews |
Memory Tips
- Nationality Trap: Many assume she was Dutch because she hid in Amsterdam and wrote in Dutch. However, she was born in Frankfurt, Germany, making her German by birth.