SEVENTY years ago, the moving diary entries of Anne Frank were published in Britain for the first time in words that continue to transfix the world, with the book remaining one of the most read through the generations, offering the most famous account of Jewish life during World War Two.

 

When did Anne first put pen to paper?

Born in Germany in 1929, Anne moved with her family to Amsterdam in 1934. It was on her 13th birthday - during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands - that she received a diary as a gift, but just two years later, Anne died in Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

 

Her first entry?

Anne addressed her diary on the very first day - June 12, 1942 - as if it was a friend, writing: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”

 

But then…?

Amid rumours all Jews would have to leave the Netherlands, her parents decided to go into hiding to escape persecution, moving into an annex in Anne’s father Otto’s business premises in July 1942.

 

A life in hiding began?

During two years hidden away, Anne wrote about life in the secret annex, as well as her feelings and anxieties and relationships with the seven others around her in the cramped quarters - her parents, her sister, another family they knew - the Van Pels - and Fritz Pfeffer, an acquaintance of Otto.

 

They were eventually betrayed?

In August 1944, the annex was raided and everyone arrested. Anne and her sister died of typhus days apart in March 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated. 

 

Who betrayed them?

Earlier this year, a team - including an ex-FBI agent - said they believe the identity of the suspect who may have betrayed them was Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish man in Amsterdam, with the cold case team saying he likely did so to save his own family.

 

The last entry?

Dated August 1, 1944, three days before the arrest, it sees Anne writing of feeling like “a bundle of contradictions”.

 

When did the diary come to light?

One of the helpers who protected the families in hiding, Miep Gies, also saved Anne's diary. Otto - who survived - returned to the Netherlands and saw the book printed in Dutch. On April 30, 1952, it became available in British bookshops, printed in English for the first time with the title ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’.

 

Since then?

The diary has been translated into more than 70 languages, with more than 30 million copies sold, inspiring film and stage performances, with the latest featuring Ray Donovan actor Liev Schreiber as Otto in upcoming eight-part Disney+ series, A Small Light, focusing on the role of Miep. 

 

Meanwhile?

The apartment in Amsterdam where the family hid, Number 263 Prinsengracht, is now the Anne Frank museum.