Anne Frank: The Core of Peace and Optimism Despite Extremely Difficult and Dark Situation

One of the most horrific terms in history that still terrors into the mind of people is “Holocaust”. A term used by Nazis to point out human beings whose lives were not important. It was one of the most Brutal and horrible periods in man’s history. During the second world, war Nazis killed millions of Jews. Many people were killed for no reason, many were sent to concentration camps where they treated human beings especially Jews like rats and tortured and humiliated them with no reason. The Nazis wanted Jews to be expelled from Germany. Jews became the victims of discrimination, violence, and exclusion. Though we are at the midst of suffering, we will hope for the best and we try to be optimistic in such tough situations. As Martin Luther says, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” This was something Anne Frank did when she went to hide in the secret annex with her family.

“The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank, is a popular diary throughout the world where Anne Frank describes about the despairs and sufferings of her family during the hiding period of two years in the Secret Annex. Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, a Jewish girl who came with her family to Holland, hoping for a good time. Anne Frank and her family were the victims of the Holocaust. Anne was an intelligent, precocious, innocent, perceptive, and pretty girl whose ambition in life is to become a journalist. During the time of World War two, Germany entered the war. The Nazis made the life of Jews dangerous and restrictive. One day Margot Anne's sister got a call-up notice from the Nazis. Everyone in the house was stunned up, the visions of concentration camps, and lonely cells raced through their head. The family decided to go into hiding for some time. They packed up their things and moved into the secret annex, a hiding place located in Otto Frank’s office. Van Dan's family also accompanied them later. In the Secret Annex, the eight people lived in a small apartment with the constant fear of being discovered and they could not go out of the secret annex. They remained quiet during the daytime so that the people working in the warehouse below the secret annex will not detect them. Their windows were curtained, they could not make noise- no flushing of toilet, no walking around. Sometimes at night, they hear sounds of guns and firebombs that frightened them. Their only relief was Mr. Kleiman, Mr. Kugler, and Miep who were helping the group from outside. Outside the secret annex, Jewish people were arrested and were put in concentration camps, where they are brutally humiliated and tortured. They dropped fire bombs which created destruction in the streets. In the annex, the group was living with the fear of being caught by the Nazis.

Throughout the diary, we see how the Franks, as well as the Van Dan families, suffer in the gloomy secret annex, but even in the darkness and despair, we see optimism and hope in the diary of Anne Frank. In spite of the brutal hardship Anne and her family had undergone, Anne maintained a sense of optimism. She stands as a courageous girl who never losses her optimism in spite of the dreadful situations. There are a lot of situations in the diary which describe the sense of optimism. When Anne reached the Secret Annex, she makes the best of things, she turned the room given to her into a beautiful living place. She wanted her room to look like her real home, which is the first step to seeing things normal. An undeniably optimistic image of Anne Frank, linked above all to the words “It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart”. This is one of the famous quotations from her diary which makes a strong impression on the readers or even they draw a general impression on Anne Frank’s thinking. This quotation shows a bold expression of optimism in the face of impending and incomprehensible cruelty. This passage also gives us an idea about Anne’s last days in the annex and it also shows how she changed her attitude. In this extremely difficult and dark situation, she was able to discover within herself a core of peace and optimism.