The Story of Anne Frank

by Mirjam Pressler

Anne Frank`s poignant story is familiar to everyone through her Diary. This biography brings that story to life in a fresh way, giving insight into her early life, her family relationships, the development of the Diary and her own emotional life.

Genres: History, Biography, Holocaust, Nonfiction, War, Memoir, World War II

189 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

German writer Mirjam Pressler is the author of several novels that have won awards in her native Germany and also received high praise from critics after being translated into English. In Malka and Halinka Pressler focuses on young Jewish protagonists who have been forced by fate to endure the Holocaust, while in Shylock's Daughter she returns readers to fifteenth-century Italy as she attempts to answer haunting questions surrounding the motivations of characters in a popular play by William Shakespeare. While receiving notice for her novels, Pressler is most well known for her work revising the diaries of Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank, and she is considered an expert on Franks's life and writings. In addition to translating Frank's famous diary from Dutch into German, Pressler has edited The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition and has also authored Anne Frank: A Hidden Life for younger readers. Winner of the 1994 German Youth Literature Prize for her work, Pressler divided her time between homes in Bavaria and Israel.

Reviews

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really helps you understand not only Anne but the other occupants of the Secret Annex and their helpers.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is where the diary of Anne Frank ends.

This is a sentence, added most probably by Anne's father Otto Frank or by the publisher of the Diaries after Anne's last entry on 1st of August, 1944.

And I believe this is how the most of the readers of the Diaries see the end of Anne. But as Mirjam Pressler states, it is not the end of the girl. She still survived seven more months in a concentration camp, slowly killed day by day. This book offers an insight not only in these seven months, but also in her life before hiding, in the lives of all 8 people hiding and their helpers. It also offers an analysis of Anne Frank as a girl turning into young adult in these very specific circumstances.

I guess the book doesn't give much more information about the holocaust in general. But it shows the tragedy of two concrete families, of real people which makes the terror more realistic. We tend not only to forget, but also to abstract events. Maybe it is a defense mechanism. But I believe it is also a dangerous way how to make similar terrible events today. And that might be one of the greatest gifts of this book.
I must admit that even if there are many facts, quotations from interviews and documents, there is still a lot of speculation about how one "must have felt" etc. Felt a bit annoyed by this. But can't blame the author. It is very hard to stay objective and indifferent with this story. And that is a healthy blessing.

And yes, I also thought this is the original diaries when I bought the book.

[Sharayu Gangurde · Rating 5 out of 5]

The more I read about Anne, the more grateful i feel about having this life full of comforts and luxury.

Her energy and outlook towards living a life during those war days is such a humble reminder for all of us to be more humane in our approach to living our lives now, six decades later.

I always think of how Anne would have lived her life had she been alive. She's a constant source of unfailing inspiration and my personal guide in times of distress.

You'll live forever, Dear Anne!

[drworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like reading this book but I felt incomplete after putting it down. There are so many questions in my mind. This book is a review as it cited so many sources, but the author made many assumptions on how Anne Frank felt at that time, which may or may not be u fair. I am going to find the translated diary of Anne Frank, read it and try to have my own POV Plus, I am going to read Mein Kampf and try to understand how this barbaric incident occured.

RIP Anne Frank. Your story will not end here.

[gigi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't usually read nonfiction FOR A REASON. I like this book, it was good, it made sense; however...it's nonfiction. I literally only bought this book from the thrift store because I thought it was the actual diary of Anne Frank (it isn't). The analysis of her life was good, but didn't tear my heart out or infiltrate my mind like my loving fiction usually does. I can see the work and research put into this book and it did make me understand the very little that I understood from Anne Frank's diary (which I still have to read), BUT reading this book just made me miss reading if that makes sense.
Favorite Line (I'M TRYING TO DO A NEW THING HERE): "But with her unfeeling nature, her sarcastic manner-well, I find it more impossible to love her every day." (Pg. 160)

Pros: Made me understand, informational, evident work was put into this, short, easy to read

Cons: Didn't make me cry, I got a little bored, I really need to read the actual diary first

[Meghan robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

By chess rebuffs egg birds deny gcd shy be get kV crumb fess bond sync dex chuff

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful and informative companion to Anne Frank’s diary

[Kimora Anglin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Journey of Anne and Her Fam
In the non-fiction autobiography Anne Frank: A Hidden Life, written by Mirjam Pressler, the reader is taken through the journey of Anne Frank, her family and her friends during the overruling of Hitler and the Nazis, told through a series of written diary entries from Anne. In this book there is a lot of emotion shown by the characters like fear, excitement, nervousness, hunger, sickness, tiredness and more that really help the reader to understand what they went through during this time. This particular book mentions a lot of characters but the main character is Anne Frank. Anne's family consists of her older sister Margot Frank, her mom Edith Frank, and her dad Otto Frank. There are also the van Pels. Hermann van Pels, his wife Augutse van Pels and their son Peter van Pels. The last person hiding with them was Fritz Pfeffer. The van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer had been friends with Otto Frank. Anne also mentions Victor Kugler, Johannes Kleiman, Johan Voskuijl, Bep Voskuijl, Jan Gies and Miep Gies who helped Anne and the seven others hide. They hid for two years in a secret apartment located in Amsterdam, called the Secret Annex. Anne and her family went into hiding to avoid Nazi persecution and going to concentration camps.
In my opinion I liked this book. I like how there is a lot of insight into things that went on in Anne's life. I also like how the author helps the reader understand what is going on by better explaining what Anne wrote in her diary. One thing I didn’t like or just didn’t understand was some of the vocabulary and pronunciation because some of the words were in German. I also thought it was kind of confusing to keep track of all of the characters because Anne mentions so many. For example, Anne gives them different names in her diary than in real life. One thing that stood out
to me the most about the author's style was how descriptive the author is. Also the author uses a lot of emotion. Overall this was a good read and would recommend it for teens and young adults. I also think the type of person who would like this book would be someone who likes learning about history, and likes things to be in order chronologically and not all over the place.

[Shaylie Woodford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not like I was anticipating it to be. I expected it to be more centered around Anne herself and her experiences during World War Two. I was not expecting this book to be a companion of her diary and go into as much detail as it did from Otto Frank's perspective of Anne during this time. This book was heartbreaking but thrilling at the same time. With real images from Anne's life, real clips from her diary, and explicit details about life at the concentration camps, this book was hard to put down. I think that this would be an okay book to incorporate into an older, more mature level class during a history lesson about the holocaust of Nazi Germany as a way to incorporate 'fun reading' into lessons. Although this book isn't ideal for my future classroom, it offers great insight into the inside life of Anne Frank, Anne Frank we didn't know. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the personal life of Anne Frank and who want to have a more historical look at her life and experience.

[Ria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading anything about Anne Frank is always heartwrenching and this account is no less so, but knowing it's also written by someone who survived the Holocaust is profound. It gives her more credibility in talking about those times. While reading the timeline provided in the back of the book (which is dreadfully short as it recounts the short life Anne lived), I realized that if only Anne had remained at Aushwitch instead of being transported to Bergen-Belsen, she may have survived since Auschwitz was liberated months before Bergen-Belsen - and she wouldn't have contracted typhus which was rampant there. But also, it seems as though had Anne survived, perhaps her words might not have had the impact they continue to do - perhaps she might not have shared her diary at all. A good read, but too short. I wish there was more detail about the 7 months after the family's discovery.

[Aly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Si tratta della biografia di Anna Frank, libro ben scritto e chiaro nelle spiegazioni lo può leggere anche chi non ha mai letto il diario o magari l'ha letto tempo fa e non lo ricorda. A differenza del diario questa biografia è adatta a un pubblico non troppo giovane, dai 15 anni in poi perché alcuni temi trattati non sono di facile comprensione ai più giovani.

[layla :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

So intriguing. I thought I knew lots about Anne Frank and after reading this I realized I definitely did not! How ever it was very sad. It's so depressing that someone so amazing and funny could have their life be just as insignificant to people.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It still amazed me that for two years 8 people were kept in hiding - in a concealed room - because they were Jewish - I find the story of Anne Frank sad and yet clearly shows the character of this young girl.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read after reading The Diary of Anne Frank’s. It has been awhile since I read that book and had to keep remembering who all the people were that went into hiding together. This book provides more details and insight into who all of the people were and what they were like.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful look at Anne Frank's life for the younger audience. It gave an interesting view of this girl's life!

[Sujit Thummala · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was sad. By reading this story I learned the difficulties Anne Frank faced in her life.

[Byron Allanvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative and humbling view into the lives of the Frank family and all of those who risked their lives regularly to aid them.

[Christina McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me understand more about her family and how they handled living in a small place.

[Lisa Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, very intelligent, lovely girl.

[Kelly Greenwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting companion to the Diary (I say that, not having read the Diary for many years), written by a German writer who has written extensively on Anne Frank.

[Pollapollina Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una biografia di Anne Frank, che riporta molti dettagli storici, sulla famiglia, sugli altri abitanti dell’Alloggio Segreto, con citazioni dal Diario e da altre fonti documentarie dell’epoca.

[Sam Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fine.

[Joanne Dickinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awful thing for someone to do.
Tell the Germans where the family was hiding.

Very sad and well written

[Sofía Llanos · Rating 5 out of 5]

he plorat. molt interessant si t’interesa aquesta etapa històrica.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hätte ich mal besser einfach gleich Anne Franks Tagebuch gelesen... Mirjam Pressler beschreibt sehr frei ihre Interpretation der Geschehnisse und Gefühlslagen.

[Brittney Finck]

The Diary of a Young Girl was one of my favorite community reads during Middle School. I remember Anne Frank being relatively close to my age during the time I read her diary which really made it possible for a girl to relate. It was a sad feeling I received reading that book. Ever since The Diary of a Young Girl was introduced to me, I have had an amazing interest in the Holocaust. I was able to visit Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau in Poland and shortly after, I visited the house in which Anne Frank’s hiding took place in Amsterdam. I was in the very room of the girl who initiated my feelings of emotion while reading and it was too much for me to grasp. Anne Frank spent some of her last years in the very room I was standing in.
Anne Frank: A Hidden Life is a novel by Mirjam Pressler that tells the story of Anne Frank from new perspectives. Pressler invites the reader to hear Anne’s story from her surviving friends, neighbors, and the protectors of her family during the war.
Diversity wasn’t necessarily celebrated during World War II since it was a plan to end the diversity of the human race. However, it did form a bond that made me feel closer to Anne Frank. Anne Frank: A Hidden Life is a great companion for her original diary that gives more information for curious readers.
The story was about Anne Frank and her family that hid in a secret annex during almost two years of war. I would consider this to be an in-depth treatment of cultural issues in itself. Anne Frank’s family was dehumanized just because of their Jewish history and the book highlights this well.
“I know we can’t leave here!”
Anne Frank: A Hidden Life Page 123.
Along with the awareness of cultures, the “minority” group in this story was definitely filling more of a purpose than a quota since the entire story revolved around Anne Frank’s family and different views on this family. As a target minority, Anne Frank and her family knew that they couldn’t leave the annex without an unknown, unpreferable fate. Which allowed for plenty of reflection.
I have been reflecting on Anne Frank A Diary of a Young Girl since I read it. With the new knowledge that Anne Frank: A Hidden Life has provided for me, I will combine the two and simultaneously reflect. It makes me cringe still, just knowing that Anne Frank suffered with her family during her last years. She was such a young, talented lady who still had a lot of life left in her until the end. I believe that reading both stories has allowed for me to appreciate the life I was given.
The unique style comes from the story revolving around Anne Frank. People with knowledge on the subject were given the opportunity to remember and reflect on this young girl which doesn’t seem to be a common style in books. The memory of Anne Frank lives on and this book helps to access her memory.
This story is a biography and I believe that it stays true to it’s genre. The truth seems to be told and the story stays true to Anne Frank’s time in the annex. It is of enduring quality as it has helped change my thoughts on the Holocaust yet again. This story has enhanced my memory of my time in Anne Frank’s Huis and it is one that I will be putting on the shelves of my classroom library.

[Marcos Tavares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Frank é, talvez, o maior símbolo da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Seu diário já foi traduzido para inúmeras línguas, teve várias adaptações no cinema e no teatro, além de ser um texto chave para a compreensão do sofrimento causado por Hitler para com os judeus e para as minorias da Europa à época. Anne Frank, por consequência, se tornou um ícone e é tida como um grande nome de resistência e de luta até os dias de hoje.

Não é de se admirar que, tamanha a proporção que o texto de seu diário teve como impacto no mundo, tudo o que estava ao seu redor também foi catapultado e virou objeto de interesse histórico. Atualmente, se vê inúmeros livros que expandem o, digamos assim, "universo" Anne Frank. Tem-se livros contando como foram os seus dias após sua prisão e descoberta do esconderijo até a sua morte, livros que contam o que aconteceu com os amigos de infância dela e livros que, como é o caso desse, abordam outros parentes da família Frank que não os que estavam no esconderijo com ela.

Em A História da Família de Anne Frank temos os pontos de vista de Alice Frank, avó de Anne, Helene Elias, tia dela e Buddy Elias, seu primo. Reunindo cartas, documentos, diários, agendas e manuscritos de uma maneira geral, esses relatos abordam um pouco sobre a história dos Frank, como eram os seu dia a dia, como Anne cresceu e como foram os dias de Otto após sua saída do esconderijo.

A ideia do livro surgiu ao se achar no porão de uma das casas da família, um reunido de documentos supracitados que trariam luz a alguns pontos da história dos Frank que ainda não haviam sido esclarecidos. O compilado foi organizado por Mirjam Pressler, tradutora do Diário para o alemão e autora de mais de quarenta livros de sucesso, e Gerti Elias, esposa de Buddy. O livro também apresenta fotos e documentos inéditos dos Frank.

O Diário de Anne Frank é um dos melhores livros que já li na vida, fica no top 3 dos meus livros favoritos. Tinha acabado de fazer a primeira releitura da obra, em outra edição que comprei, quando comecei a ler esse livro. Confesso que esperava um pouco mais da leitura. Entendo que o foco do livro não girava em torno de Anne somente, mas de toda a sua família, mas esperava que o período do esconderijo e a própria Anne tivesse uma maior evidência no texto. Apenas na terceira parte há um maior destaque nesse sentido. No mais, temos uma breve passagem da infância de Anne e ela só é citada esporadicamente em alguns trechos.

Acredito que, para quem está fazendo uma pesquisa sobre a vida de Anne, esse livro seja realmente essencial. No mais, para quem é apenas um admirador do Diário ou da jovem, não haja muito a ser acrescido nesse sentido.

[ANGEL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew that Anne Frank was not only writing a revised copy of her diary and a personal diary at the same time. She had a separate revised diary that she had edited out some parts of her actual diary and added in more information about living in the Secret Annex with 7 other people. I didn't know that there are actually some pieces of Anne’s diary that are missing. They were somehow lost when Anne had to suddenly leave because her and the rest of the people in the Secret Annex were arrested.
The book “Anne Frank: A Hidden Life” by Mirjam Pressler is about Anne Frank’s life from the author’s point of view. In the book she analyzes each member that hid in the Secret Annex - along with the people who helped hide them. It includes excerpts from Anne’s diary and describes what they think the member thinks and how they felt. There is also information from outside sources like people that knew Anne.
I honestly didn't really like the book at all. I thought it just dragged on and on. The entire book was basically someone else analyzing Anne Frank’s life through her diary, interviews from people that knew her, and from a book that Miep wrote. The woman who wrote the book included her opinion and some of the things she said I absolutely did not agree with. The author summarized the interviews that were done with people that knew Anne.
In the story, the author said, “Anne invented ‘her’ Peter, the boy she needed because she wanted a love story.” I disagree with this statement so much. I don't understand why you make the statement of Anne creating a different version of Peter in her diary. Her diary was about the facts because she mentioned many times that she lives on the facts and the cold hard truth and even people that knew her said that she relied on, and uses only the facts. That is absolutely preposterous to say that she created “her” Peter in a diary about her life. The author also says, “... [Peter] is not particularly lively. Inevitably, Anne was concentrating too much on herself in her diary to allow that.” A diary is supposed to be about yourself and again, why would you say that Anne is creating her image of Peter. Anne relies on and uses only the facts.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anne Frank: A Hidden Life by Mirjam Pressler was a mediocre novel that deserves some applause. This novel focused more on the becoming of Anne's diary as well as the background of all the people in the Secret Annex, the place were Anne, her family, a dentist, and another family hid, rather than her life. After previously reading The Diary of Anne Frank, I had knowledge on her story as well as her life. Since my background with Anne Frank was somewhat clear, I expected this book to be mainly about Anne's life before hiding, as well as a shorter version of her time in hiding, compared to her diary. The book was both what I expected and more, but not in a good way. The reason I gave this book a three out of five stars was because the author had many chapters that recounted how Anne's diary came about or why not all logs were included in her published diary. During these chapters I often found myself bored and wishing that they would end. Also, I wished there would of been a little more information on Anne's life before hiding. I found the chapter that focused on this point to be bland. I would recommend this book for people between the ages of twelve and sixteen, mainly because this book has some difficult vocabulary and people younger than twelve would most likely loose interest quickly. This book is more suited for girls because it follows a girls life, but a boy could also enjoy the novel too. Lastly, I would recommend this book to someone who has not read The Diary of Anne Frank. The only new knowledge I got from this book was about publishing and some more background information on other characters. Overall, Anne Frank: A Hidden Life by Mirjam Pressler was a moderate book that I enjoyed very minimally, and one that lacked interest and the ability to keep the reader engaged.

[Verena Annette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leider kann ich dieses Buch nicht empfehlen.
Die Autorin Mirjam Pressler ist die Übersetzerin der neuen (aktuellsten?) kritischen Ausgabe der Anne Frank Tagebücher.
Grundsätzlich habe ich den Eindruck, dass sie dieses Buch recherchiert hat; es ist gut durchdacht. Allerdings weist es starke handwerkliche Schwächen auf. Mirjam Pressler durchzieht den kompletten Text stark mit ihrer eigenen Meinung. Ich denke, sie will auch ganz bewußt die Lebensumstände von Anne und ihrer Familie nicht nur dokumentieren, sondern auch rekonstruieren. Dagegen habe ich gar nichts einzuwenden, da mich gerade das interessiert hat, hab ich das Buch angefangen zu lesen! Aber das Lesen wird immer mühseliger, denn Pressler schreibt zwei, drei Absätze und setzt dann persönliche Kommentare oder Ausschweifungen in Klammern gesetzt dahinter.
Ihrer Meinung bin ich bei den "Klammertexten", die ich gelesen habe, das ist nicht was mich erst irritiert hat, später nur noch genervt. Es stört einfach massiv. Es unterbricht eigenartig den Lesefluß, so sehr, dass ich anfing die Klammern zu "überlesen". Aber die Klammern zu überspringen ist auch keine Lösung, da Pressler dort nicht nur ihre persönlichen Kommentare setzt, sondern teilweise noch Informationen zu eben genannten Personen gibt. Und es nervt einfach enorm, wenn komplette Absätze in Klammern gesetzt sind und irgendwie gar nicht richtig zum Fließtext gehören.
Schade. Eigentlich ist das Buch gut und auch gut lesbar für Jüngere oder für Leser, die sich mit Anne Frank noch gar nicht befasst haben ... aber diese Klammern, das ist einfach nur schlecht gemacht.