The Diary of Anne Frank A Study Guide

Courtesy of Paper Mill Playhouse Millburn, NJ

A SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

The play opens with an image of the Frank family as they go into hiding entering the Secret Annex through a door hidden behind a bookshelf. We see them begin to set up house and Mr. and Mrs. van Daan and their son Peter arrive soon after. Mr. Frank along with the refugee families two helpers, Miep and Mr. Kraler, who work in the offices below, explain the rules for living in the annex stressing the importance of being quiet, moving around as little as possible during the day, and not using the toilet until all the workers below have left for the day. Miep explains how she will bring the families food, books and other supplies when she visits. As the families begin to settle into a routine, Anne writes in her diary about taking lessons from her father, the arguments between the van Daans, teasing Peter, and being upset by her mothers urging her to behave in a more adult manner. Miep and Mr. Kraler come bearing supplies and news of the outside world. They also tell the families of Mr. Dussel, a friend who is in need of a place to hide, and make plans for him to join them in the annex. Mr. Dussel arrives safely, but with more truthful news of the situation outside than the families had received from Miep and Mr. Kraler. The families are terrified by how bad things have gotten and worry about friends not in hiding. They listen to BBC newscasts and hope for a British invasion. Anne begins to wake screaming in the night from nightmares. Time passes and we see the families celebrate Hanukkah. Anne has gone to much trouble to make special presents for everyone in the annex, but their celebration is interrupted by sounds from the offices below. Mr. Frank risks making a trip downstairs and concludes that a thief has been in the offices. The possibility of the thief reporting what he heard from the annex leaves the occupants in fear. At the beginning of Act Two a year has passed, food has become scarce, and it is clear everyone is suffering. Miep brings a holiday cake to celebrate the new year, but the happy event is spoiled when Mr. van Daan forces his wife to give up her precious fur coat for the money it will bring. Anne and Peter begin to have long conversations and confide in each other. Anne writes in her diary that she is beginning to feel her body changing into that of a woman. Mr. Kraler brings the distressing news that one of the employees downstairs has hinted that he remembers the existence of a door to an attic level and demands more pay. Mr. Frank encourages Mr. Kraler to give him a raise in the hopes of keeping him from talking. As tensions run even higher in the annex, Mrs. Frank catches Mr. van Daan stealing bread in the night and demands he leave the annex. Mr. Frank persuades her to let him stay. The families rejoice as they listen to the BBC newscast announcing the Allied invasion and their hopes are high for an end to the war. As the families share a happy moment enjoying fresh strawberries we see Schutzstaffel (SS) officers enter the office building below the annex and find the door behind the bookshelf. The families are arrested and we hear of their fates in a voice over from Mr. Frank.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

It is important that The Diary of Anne Frank be placed in proper historical context. Annes awareness of the gassing of Jews in Poland and fear for Jews not lucky enough to be in hiding is clear in the play, but the reasons her situation is so desperate is not explicitly explained. This is due, in part, to the Frank parents attempt to shield their children from the persecution around them before they went into hiding. As a personal account, Annes diary does not explain things she took for granted and the occupants only had BBC radio broadcasts and reports from Miep and Mr. Kraler to inform them of outside events. Please refer to our Additional Resources section for additional reading recommendations. In the play, we hear a radio broadcast in which the exiled Princess of the Netherlands appeals to the people about the importance of everyday writings from people who are being oppressed. Anne began revising her diary after hearing the broadcast. The Nazis Final Solution aimed not only to eliminate all Jews, but also to eliminate all traces that they ever existed including all records of the Solution itself. Annes writing in her diary, with the idea others might some day read it, was an act in direct opposition to the Nazi regime. Just by continuing to write, Anne Frank fought the Nazis.

THE POWER OF WRITING For Anne, her diary was a way for her to pass the long hours of necessary silence, a way to escape, and a much needed friend and confidant when she had none because of her imprisonment, but there is much to be learned from Annes account of life in the secret annex. ACTIVITY #1 Keep a journal for at least a week then go back and examine it as though you were examining a historical document. How much can be learned from the journal entries about current affairs and what the culture we live in is like? DISCUSSION Imagine trying to form an idea of what it was like to be a young person in your situation and time. What ideas might an historian get that would be right from their journal entries? Might a historian get the wrong idea about some things? How did it feel to keep the journal? Did you struggle to find things to write about? Did you feel it was a place you could express ideas you might not be able to work out in conversation? Annes journal has much to tell us about the historical era in which she lived, but more importantly, it is a very personal account of her coming of age. Anne uses the diary to work out questions she has about her personal identity.

 ACTIVITY #2

How does Anne define herself in the diary or the play?

Make a list of some of the identities we see Anne struggle with including her identity as a daughter and her religious identity as a Jew. How did Anne use her diary to work out her personal struggles? How did you see these issues manifest themselves in her behavior?

ACTIVITY #3 Read excerpts from Zlatas Diary, a journal of a young girl living in wartorn Sarajevo, Yugoslavia between September 1991 and October 1993. (published by Penguin Classics, February 1, 1995).

DISCUSSION How does it compare to Annes diary? If you had to live in hiding, and could not make a sound from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. everyday (except Sunday), and had no television, computers or electronic toys to entertain yourself, what would you do?

WHY SEE THE PLAY? If you have already studied or will study Annes diary, why it is useful to experience the same story in different mediums? If you have seen the movie, read the diary or even read the play, how was watching the story on stage different? What is it about a live theater experience that makes it different from other forms in which you may have been exposed to The Diary of Anne Frank? Were the emotions triggered by the play the same as ones experienced while watching the movie or reading the diary itself? Did different events or ideas stand out in the different versions of the story?

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

What was Annes initial reaction to the familys arrival at the secret annex? How was it different from Margot and her mothers reaction? How did Annes outlook on living in the annex change during the course of the play? What do you think brought about those changes? For what reasons do you think Anne kept a diary while she was in hiding? How do you think her diary helped Anne through this difficult time? How is what Anne writes about herself in her diary different from the way she acts around the other occupants of the annex? Why do you think Anne hides some of her true feelings from the others? Can you think of a time when you have had to keep the way you were feeling to yourself? How did it make you feel? What visual image do you remember most from the play? Why do you think that image was so powerful? How did it make you feel?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES The Anne Frank Internet Guide: www.annefrank.com The Nizkor Project: www.nizkor.org The Holocaust Chronicle: www.holocaustchronicle.org On propaganda: www.propagandacritic.com Anne Franks Tales from The Secret Annex by Anne Frank tr. by Michael Mok and Ralph Manheim, Doubleday, 1983 The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank by Willy Lindwer, tr. by Alison Meersschaert, Pantheon, 1999 Anne Frank: A Hidden Life by Mirjam Pressler, Puffin, 2000 Teaching the Representation of the Holocaust Ed. by: Marianne Hirsch and Irene Kacandes, Modern A Scholarly Look at The Diary of Anne Frank Ed. by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House Publishers, 1999 Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend by Alison Gold, Scholastic, 1999