Anne Frank. Anne’s Experiences in Hiding. History Essay

Anne Frank
Name:
Institution:
Anne Frank
Introduction
History has shown humankind to be very vicious. What is there today is a product of bloodshed and struggle, some of which have been very regrettable and offered important lessons to learn from. One such event was the upheaval of the 30s and 40s when drums of war were being pounded all over the world. The world was in turmoil, and it looked like every leading country had a bloodthirsty leader. Germany occupied quite a central place in the upheaval, with Hitler and his Nazis wreaking havoc across Europe. Within the bigger play lay a subplot of individuals who tried their best to survive, such as one lady, Anne Frank, who experienced and saw it all. Together with her family, Anne Frank was forced to go into hiding in 1942 after the Nazi invasion. Her father, Mr. Otto, had already begun preparing a secret annex in his business premises. Together with other Jews families, they spent 761 days before being discovered. The 761 days might have been different, but according to some of the experiences noted down by Anne in her diary, the days had similar routines. Through the contents in Anne’s diary, her experiences and feelings about her time in hiding are revealed.
Anne’s Experiences in Hiding
It is always said that those who experience the biggest brunt of war are those who don’t even take part in it, the collateral damage. The horrors of war, especially those experienced first-hand, are usually quite numbing. It is especially so life-changing when it happens to a youngster who is just barely out of childhood. Ann was by then a teenager. Anne was taking note of all these experiences in her notebook before she and others were captured and taken to a concentration camp. It is here that she experiences not only the horrors of war but also the particular horrors waged upon innocent people by the Nazis.
Among several experiences that Anne went through while in hiding, one that does not escape people’s attention is that she was deprived of the family setting of a father, mother, and siblings. In her diary, she notes down how their weekdays in the secret annex began with Van Pels’ alarm going off, waking people up before they could use the bathroom in shifts (Frank, 2010). Therefore, the experience is a clear indicator that there was no family setting in the secret annex as different families lived as a single-family. All the people in the hiding place also shared responsibilities, and Anne’s first task was to remove blackout screens from the windows. On the other hand, Herman Van Pels was the one who used to put the kettle on immediately after waking up (Frank, 2010). The nuclear family is the basic social unit. By lacking this kind of setup, Anne basically missed out on the family love that exists within it. While working within a larger social setup was also quite good for the character development of Anne, having a sense of belonging within a family was also crucial. Unfortunately, the war could not allow for such a thing to happen.
Fear was another thing that Anne and everyone else in the secret annex had to endure as their secret hiding place was between the warehouse beneath them and the helpers working station above them. In h...