FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Presented by AnneFrank.com

1. How unique was the hiding place or the Secret Annex? 
The Franks were most unusual both in finding a place to hide together and in having so many people who were willing to help them. It is very important to put Anne Frank's story in context to the stories of what happened to most Dutch Jews. Three out of four were killed and a very small minority found places to hide, mostly with farmers. 

2. Who were the Helpers in the Secret Annex?
Bep Elli Voskuijl, Miep Santrouschitz Gies, Victor Kugler, and Johannes Kleiman.  Remember all the silent helpers too, the butcher, the vegetable grocer, Miep's husband, Jan. All of these people were helpers of the Frank family. 

3. Why is Anne Frank so well known?
A young Dutch victim of the Holocaust and the author of a famous diary Anne Frank has become a symbol of 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. For many people Anne Frank became a symbol of the six million Jewish men, women, and especially the children who were murdered by the Nazis in the WWII. It is almost impossible to comprehend this number, but the story of Anne Frank makes it possible to understand what the war meant for one of these victims. 

4. What language did Anne write her diary in?
Anne wrote her diary in Dutch. 

5. Where did the family go into hiding?
The secret annex was located The Opekta-Works at Prinsengracht 263, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The date the family went into hiding was July 6, 1942. 

6. Why are there different versions of the diary?
The (a) version of the diary was the very first writings made by Anne. After hearing on Wednesday, March 29, 1944 on a daily radio broadcast from London, Anne heard the Dutch Minister Bolkestein, say that after the war all diaries and letters about the war would be collected. The (b) version of the diary is Anne rewriting of her work as she stated on May 11, 1944 " You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to become a journalist someday and later on a famous writer" In ant case, I want to publish a book entitled het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) after the war, whether I shall suceed or not, I cannot say, but my diary will be a great help. The (c) version of the diary appeared after a Dutch newspaper in April 3, 1946 (Het Parool ö The Motto) printed an article about the diary and a publisher was found. Anne Frank's diary was published in an edition of 1,500 copies in the summer of 1947. 1951, an English edition was published.  

7. Why is the diary so widely read?
The diary was first printed in Dutch in 1947, then French and German. By 1951 an English edition was published. The diary became world famous, and today it is printed in approximately 67 different languages and has sold more than 31 million copies.  

8. Who were the Nazis?
National Socialist German Workers' Party, founded on January 5, 919. commonly known as the Nazi Party. Their structure was based on the Fuehrerprinzip, or leadership principle. At the heart of the party stood extreme anti-Semitism and racist ideology. Hitler was the Fuehrer, the ultimate, authoritarian party leader. The party was managed by 18 high ranking officials, and 32 territorial party leaders; sub-organizations associated with the party included the Storm Troopers (SA), the SS, the Hitlerjugend youth movement, and worker and teacher unions. The Nazi Party multiplied exponentially during its years of existence, growing from 6,000 members in 1922 to 8.5 million in 1945. 

9. Are there Nazis today?
Yes. The term Neo-Nazism is the post-World War II brand of Nazism embraced by various anti-Semitic and racist groups the world over. Neo-Nazis use Nazi symbols such as the Swastika and glorify Hitler and the horrific crimes carried out by the Nazi regime. 

10. What does the term "Aryan" mean?
The Nazi term for what they considered the German race. It is not a racial term and has no biological validity. Aryan was made up by the Nazis to refer to a racial ideal that they claimed was "superior" ö that is, the "master race." Aryan was originally the name of a family of languages of the people of Europe and India. 

11. What does the symbol of the Swastika mean?
The swastika was an ancient religious symbol dating back to the ruins in Egypt, Troy, China, and India. The name swastika comes from the Sanskrit language of India, where the symbol was used as a sign of fertility. The swastika was even used as a decoration in the synagogues of ancient Israel. The swastika was the symbol of peace and good will to Alexandra, the wife of Czar Nicholas of Russia. The swastika, or hooked cross became the official Symbol of the Nazi party and was specifically chosen by Hitler.

12. What does prejudice mean?
Prejudice means to form an adverse judgment or opinion beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts. Prejudice can be a preconceived unreasonable judgment or conviction. 

13. How can discrimination lead to genocide?
Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion which can lead to detriment or injury caused to a person by the preconceived and unfavorable conviction of another or others can lead to genocide. Genocide is the systematic, planned annihilation of a racial, political, or cultural group. 

14. What was the Nazi pogrom about?
A Nazi pogrom was an organized violence against Jews, often with the support of the government. Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass) was a state-sponsored pogrom unleashed on the Jewish communities of Germany and Austria on November 9 and 10, 1938. The pogroms were then followed up with other types of severe anti-Jewish measures.  

15. Why did the Nazis pick on the Jews?
Traditionally anti-Semitism was based on religious discrimination against Jews by Christians. Christian doctrine was ingrained with the idea that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, and thus deserved to be punished. Another concept that provoked hatred of Jews among Christians was the Supercession Myth, which claimed that Christianity had replaced Judaism, as the Jews has failed in their role as the chosen people of God ö and thus deserved to be punished. Individual Jews were not judged based on their personal achievements or merits, but rather were seen on the whole as greedy, devilish, standoffish, lazy, money-grubbing, and over-sexed. Germans blamed Jews in the 1870's for undermining the German's traditional way of life and stated that German Jews were not really part of the German people. At the end of the 19^th century many anti-Semitic political parties sprung up in Germany, which were further revitalized after Germany's loss in World War I.  

16. How did the Nazis discriminate against the Jews?
The Nazi Party was created in 1919 and came to national power in Germany in 1933. The Nazis discriminated against the Jews from the very beginning of their regime, first by instituting racial laws that separated Jews from the rest of the society, and later by exterminating members of the "inferior" race. 

17. Did the Jews fight back?
Yes, there was much resistance fighting. Not all Jews took up arms and became resistance fighters in the ghetto's or forest. Some Jews fought back in other ways such as writing to record what was going on. Anne Frank in part wrote her diary to record what it was like to be in hiding in Nazi occupied Holland where Jews were being hunted down "like slaves of long ago." 

18. What was the Weimar Republic and why did the government which was a democracy 1918-33 end with dictatorship and Nazism?
From the inception in1919 the democratic Weimar republic faced serious economic problems, foremost among them staggering reparations payments demanded by victorious Entente powers after the Great War of 1914 ö 1918, and set forth in the Treaty of Versailles. With crash of the stock market in 1929, business failures and unemployment reached unprecedented levels. Arguments in the Reichstag led to virtual paralysis of Germany's political decision-making process. Hitler campaigned tirelessly vowing a change and to restore Germany's pride and prosperity. 

 19. Who beside the Jews were target of Nazi destruction?
The nazis targeted Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, institutionalized, physically disabled, and mentally handicapped persons. 

20. What does the term Holocaust mean and how many people were killed?
The term Holocaust means total burnt offering. Six million Jews, 1.5 million Jewish children including Anne Frank, were exterminated in the Nazis war against the Jews. Five million civilians including Polish intellectuals, Russian civilians, Gypsies, homosexuals and others were targeted groups. 

21. What was the United States role in World War II with the Jewish refugees?
Long considered to be a country that could be counted on as a place of refuge for the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free air" the United States did not live up to those expectations during the Holocaust. The US government would not change its immigration quotas to allow in more Jewish refugees from Europe. The United States' ambivalent policy regarding Nazi Anti öSemitism can be viewed as a result of several factors. Slowly recovering from the crippling Depression, public opinion condemned the notion of allowing in European refugees who were liable to take away jobs from Americans who needed them. Also, many Americans called for isolationism, with an emphasis on America first. Americans did not want the government to adopt a policy of intervention in the affairs of other countries. Furthermore, there were strong anti-Semitic elements within the American government. During the winter of 1942-43, the opposite ends of the spectrum in the American government were revealed: certain government officials began pressuring President Roosevelt to issue a rescue proclamation, while the State Department continued to sabotage rescue efforts. When Henry Morgenthau, the Jewish Secretary of the Treasury, found out about the State Department's activities, he immediately reported them to the President. Fearing a scandal, the President decided to establish an agency for the rescue of Jewish refugees. This was called the war Refugee Board (WRB). 

22. How much of Europe did the Nazis and other Axis powers occupy ?

• March 7, 1936: Germans march into the Rhineland, violating the Versailles Treaty.
• March 12, 1938: Germany annexes Austria.
• March 15, 1939: Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.
• September, 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland; World War II begins.
• April - May 1940: Germany invades Denmark and Norway, The Netherlands, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
• September 29 -30, 1941: More than 33,000 Jews are executed at Babi Yar, near Kiev in the Ukraine, by the Einsatzgruppen special forces.
• June 22, 1941: Germans attack Russia, Nazi SS special forces in Belorussia and Ukraine for killing of Jews.
• December 11, 1941: Germany declares war on the United States. 

23. What happened after World War II to the survivors?
There were displaced persons camps all over Europe. Some people returned to the communities they had been taken from. Only one out of three Jews living in Europe in 1939 survived the Nazi genocide. The majority immigrated to Palestine or the United States and a small number returned to what was left of their prewar communities. 

24. What is the difference between a Concentration Camp and a Work Camp.
Concentration camps were camps where the Nazis imprisoned their opponents without trials. Although the term "concentration camp" is often used as a term for all Nazi camps, there were in fact several types of camps in the Nazi system. There were labor and hard labor camps, extermination camps, transit camps, and prisoner of war camps.  

25.  What kind of camp was Anne Frank and her family sent to?
At first Anne and the others were all sent to a transit camp called Westerbork. 

26. Where was Westerbork?
Westerbork was a transit camp located in the northeastern Netherlands through which most of Dutch Jewry passed on their way to Nazi Extermination camps in Eastern Europe. Westerbork had been established originally in October 1939 by the Dutch government to detain German Jewish Refugees who had entered the Netherlands illegally. 

27.  How many people passed through Westerbork?
Nearly 100,000 Jews were deported from Westerbork to Nazi extermination and concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Bergen-Belsen, and the Theresienstadt Ghetto. 

28. When was Westerbork liberated?
Westerbork was liberated by the Allies in mid-April 1945. At that point, 876 prisoners remained in the camp, of whom 569 were Dutch nationals. 

29. When was Anne Frank and the others transported from Westerbork?
September 3, 1944: The eight prisoners are transported in a sealed cattle car to Auschwitz, on the last transport ever to leave Westerbork. 

30. Where was Auschwitz?
Auschwitz was the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp located in Oswiecim, Poland, just 37 miles from Cracow. One-sixth of all Jews murdered by the Nazis were gassed in Auschwitz. By January 1945, Soviet troops were advancing towards Auschwitz. The Nazis, desperate to withdraw, sent most of the 58,000 remaining prisoners on death marches. Most of these prisoners were killed en route to Germany. The Soviet army liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945 and found 7,650 barely living throughout the entire camp complex. Over one million Jews had been murdered in Auschwitz. 

31. Of the eight from the Secret Annex who died in Auschwitz?
On September 3, 1944 the eight prisoners are sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland. September 6, 1944, they arrive in Auschwitz and several weeks later Hermann van Pels dies. Edith Frank dies at Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 6, 1945. Anne and Margot are sent to Bergen-Belsen, in October 1944. 

32. Where was Bergen ö Belsen.
Bergen-Belsen was a concentration camp located in northern Germany. Bergen-Belsen was established in April 1943 as a detention camp for prisoners who were to be exchanged with German imprisoned in Allied countries. Bergen-Belsen was a camp with five sub-camps. 1. Prisoner Camp, 2. Special Camp ö Jews with special documents. 3. Neutral Camp ö 350 Jews from neutral countries. 4. Star Camp ö These Jewish prisoners had to wear Star of David badges were to be traded as political prisoners ö most of these prisoners were from the Netherlands. 5. Hungarian Camp ö 1,648 Hungarian Jews who were allowed to leave Hungary and eventually reach safety in Switzerland. In August of 1944, a women's camp was added. Anne and Margot Frank were put in the "star" sub-camp with almost no living facilities. They both died of typhus in March 1945. 

33. When was Bergen-Belsen liberated?
Bergen-Belson was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945.  

34. What was the largest Concentration Camp?
Auschwitz was the largest camp. 

35. What happened to the prisoners' possessions when they were sent to the Concentration Camp?
Clothing, shoes, hairbrushes, valuables, suitcases, anything you could thing of were stock piled and distributed by the Germans. Some things were sold to German consumers or distributed to soldiers at the front or in hospitals. 

36. When did the van Pels family come to the Secret Annex?
Hermann van Pels, Auguste van Pels, and Peter van Pels came to the Annex on July 13, 1942. The van Pels had been Otto Frank's partner at the Prinsengracht office for several years. 

37. When did Fritz Pfeffer come to the Annex?
The eighth person who came to hide in the annex was Fritz Pfeffer of Mr. Dussel on November 16, 1942. 

38. When the Nazis found Anne and her family were they sent directly to a "Death Camp."
No, the Family spent 4 days locked in a holding cell in Amsterdam, and on August 8, 1944 they were transported to the Westerbork Camp. They stayed there for the whole month of August in the "punishable barracks." They were considered "punishable prisoners" since they had not given themselves up when the call-up notices were sent, but had been captured in hiding. On September 3, 1944, the eight prisoners joined 1000 others on the last train bound for the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. 

39. Did any of the helpers get arrested?
Yes, Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman were also arrested and taken to the holding cell with the family. Later they were interned in a camp. Both men survived the war. 

40. Why are there so many pictures of Anne Frank and her family?
After the arrest of the eight people in hiding, Miep, Bep, Jan Gies and Van Maaren, the warehouseman, entered the Secret Annex. It was in chaos. The pages of Anne's diary lay scattered on the floor and were gathered up along with other papers and books and taken downstairs. The Frank family's photo albums were also retrieved. Otto Frank loved taking pictures and this is why there are so many pictures of the family. About a week later the whole Secret Annex was emptied on German orders. 

41. Was Anne's diary the only diary ever found from the Holocaust?
No, there are many diaries and testimonies from the Holocaust. Students may want to read; an excellent collection is We are Witnesses, Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust, Jacob Boas (Scholastic, 1995). Also, there is Witnesses to War, Eight true-Life stories of Nazi persecution, Michael Leapman (Viking 1998). Edith's Story, Edith Velmans, (Bantam) 2000.  

42. How did her diary get published?
On June 3, 1945 Otto Frank arrived in Amsterdam and he went straight to the home of Miep and Jan Gies. Almost two months later Otto received word that both his daughters had died. As it was now certain Anne was dead, Meip got out the diaries and gave them to Otto. Otto started reading them immediately and was moved and astonished. He had never realized that Anne had recorded everything that happened in the Secret Annex so well and accurately. Otto typed large parts of the diary in German and sent them to his Mother in Switzerland. Later he let other people read parts of the diary. They urged him to look for a publisher, but no one wanted to publish the diary so soon after the war. Anne Frank's diary was published in an edition of 1,500 copies in the summer of 1947. 

43. How much clothing did Anne and Margot have in the Attic?
When Anne first heard they had to leave for the Secret Annex, she started to pack. First her diary went in, then her curlers, handkerchiefs, schoolbooks, comb, and a few letters. Miep Gies came and took away some shoes, dresses, coats, underclothes, and stockings. Anne wrote in her diary " We put on heaps of clothes as if we were going to the North Pole, the sole reason being to take clothes with us. No Jew in our situation would have dreamed of going out with a suitcase full of clothing. I had on two vests, three pairs of pants, a dress on top of that, a skirt, jacket, summer shorts, two pairs of stockings, lace-up shoes, woolly cap, scarf, ·..; I was nearly stifled before we started· (July 8, 1942).