Research/Critical Biography - Essay Example

Mrs. Frank and the two girls first moved to Aachen, near the Belgian border, while Otto got settled. By the spring of 1934, the entire family reunited in Amsterdam. While Hitler consolidated his power and events in Germany continued to boil, Anne Frank went to the Montessori School and enjoyed childhood friendships and (to her delight) the attention of boys. War was declared in September 1939. For the next two years, the Franks lived in the "secret annexe" joined by the Van Daan family and an elderly dentist named Albert Dussel.

While Germany was at the height of its conquests, Anne struggled to adjust to life in hiding - a life that meant staying quiet during the day and only moving about at night, a life that meant never going outdoors and living with bad food and the tensions that came with life in close quarters. The Franks, Van Daans and Mr. Dussel all followed the news on an illegal radio. On August 4, 1944, acting on information from a Dutch informer, the Gestapo entered the secret annexe. They arrested the Franks, the Van Daans, Mr.

Dussel, and two Dutchmen who had been assisting them. One of the Dutchmen, Mr. Kraler, spent eight months in a forced labor camp; the other was released for medical care. All of the Jews were sent to Westerbork and then Auschwitz in Poland. On September 3, they were among the last shipment of Jews to leave Holland for the concentration camps. After three days on a cramped train, they reached Auschwitz. On the platform, men and women were separated--it was the last time Otto Frank saw his family.

In October 1944, Anne, Margot and Mrs. Van Daan were selected to be moved to the Belsen camp in Germany. Mrs. Frank died at Auschwitz on January 6, 1945. The Belsen camp was different from Auschwitz--where Auschwitz had been a model of terrorized activity and order, Belsen was disorganized and lacking food and water. Typhus raged among the prisoners and most people were starving. Although the Allies