The Franks were once just a normal family, but when Hitler came into power things took a turn for the worst. The Frank Family consisted of Anne, Margot, Otto, and Edith. They resided in Amsterdam during WWII. In fear for their lives from the Nazis the Franks went into hiding with the Van Daans. At only thirteen Anne had a diary that gained worldwide recognition. Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett even went on to write a play on her life and capture her and her families’ experiences living through the holocaust. In the play The Diary of Anne Frank, emotions are conveyed through the historical events The Frank Family went through while hiding in the Secret Annex in the midst of the Holocaust.
The Diary of Anne Frank play addresses many factual events from Anne’s life and diary, filtered through key scenes in the play. In 1935, the Nuremburg Laws were passed by the Nazi’s which caused the stripping Jews of their rights and forcing them to wear the Star of David. In the beginning of the play, Peter starts tearing off his star. When he tells Anne to burn it, he says, “You can’t throw…? Something they branded you with…? That they made you wear so they could spit on you?” (Goodrich & Hackett 111)
The Jews went through many hardships in and before the annex. They were forced to wear the Star of David to signify they were different than others. Things began to get worse when in 1942 when the Nazis began to transport millions of Jews from all across Europe to concentration camps, against their will.
The playwrights include portions of text from Anne’s diary, and at the beginning of the play and Anne states, “Yesterday Father told me we were going into hiding. Where, he wouldn’t say. At five o’clock this morning Mother told me to hurry and get dressed. I was to put on as many clothes as I could…It wasn’t until we were on our way that I learned where we were going” (Goodrich & Hackett 104). To escape the misfortune, they were soon to encounter, Mr. Frank took his family and left. This put Anne in a constant state of confusion and distress, because she had no idea what was going on. In
May of 1940 the Nazis begin to invade the Netherlands, and once in control they set up the Gestapo; a brutal police force to Isolate the Jews from the rest of the Dutch population. Later once they were in hiding, the families were celebrating Hanukkah when all of a sudden everyone hears a crash coming from the offices below. The noise instills fear into everyone in the Annex. Mrs. Van Daan says, “It’s the Green Police. They’ve found us”, to which Mr. Frank responds, “If they had, they wouldn’t have left. They’d be up here by now.” Mrs. Van Daan insists, “I know it’s the Green Police. They’ve gone to get help. That’s all. They’ll be back!” (Goodrich & Hackett 146) This scene from the play, highlights the distress everyone in the Annex feels. They are scared for their lives because they know at any moment, they could be next. Hiding in the Annex put everyone in a constant state of fear and misery.
The play also used dialogue to capture outside events and conveyed how that affected the residents and their relationships with one another. In the summer of 1944, the Jews got good news. The Allies carry out a successful invasion of France. This gives many who live under the Nazis hope that the war is coming to an end. Mr. Frank tells Miep to go and tell everyone else. She runs up the stairs yelling, “Did you hear that, everybody? Did you hear what I said? The invasion has begun! The invasion!” (Goodrich & Hackett 179).
The invasion starting gives many Jews faith that they have a chance at still have a chance at a normal life, though this happiness doesn’t last long… Situations began to escalate, and fear started to rise after the residents heard in 1942 that the Nazis began to transport millions of Jews from all across Europe to forced labor and extermination camps, and the Franks were also supposed to go…Mr. Frank states, “In September we were told that we were to be shipped to Poland… The men to one camp. The women to another. I was sent to Auschwitz. They went to Belsen” (Goodrich & Hackett 187).
They had always feared for other people’s lives but this time it was theirs. They were the one’s getting taken away. Allied forces occupy Germany and Poland in 1945! The camps were liberated, and the Nazis horrible plans were finally stopped. At the end of the play, Mr. Frank tells Miep… “In January, we were freed, the few of us who were left” (Goodrich & Hackett 187) Some were freed, but most weren’t. The Franks were found and eventually died of old age or sickness. The play used historic accounts from situations from events during the holocaust, to portray the family’s emotions and feelings.
The Diary of Anne Frank play, expresses the emotions and situations Anne, and her peers went through while living in the Secret Annex fearing for their lives. It uses information from Anne Frank’s diary and other sources to factually and correctly explain and convey the feelings they went through whilst hiding in the annex. Goodrich and Hackett’s play filtered historical events through key scenes in the play and captured the relationship between the outside world of the war and the inside world of the attic.
