Aug. 13, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:
Kathy and I watched the excellent miniseries, “A Small Light,” on Amazon Prime (I think it’s on some other streaming services, too), and it prompted me finally to read Anne Frank’s diary from cover to cover. I made notes on her comments about God. –Mike H.
In impossible circumstances, Anne Frank trusted God
By Mike Haynes
The end of each entry in Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” gave me a sense of dread. Reading the entire classic book for the first time this year, I saw a teenager struggling for optimism as she and seven other Jews hid from the Nazis in World War II Amsterdam.
Anne’s dreams of what she would do when the war was over and her belief in humanity despite the cruel things going on around her are heartbreaking, knowing what is to come.
On July 15, 1944, Anne wrote, “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.”
On the morning of Aug. 4, 1944 – 20 days later – Anne, her mother Edith, her father Otto, her sister Margot and four others who had been hiding in a secret annex for two years heard a German SS officer and at least three Dutch security police stomping up the clandestine stairs toward their refuge. Abruptly, they were arrested and eventually sent to concentration camps, where all but Anne’s father died.
Anne, 15, and her sister Margot, 18 or 19, probably died of typhus at the filthy Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany in early 1945, weeks before British troops liberated it.
But they live on, especially Anne, because of her diary. And while it includes typical teen girl worries about boys and getting along with her parents, this book-length work reveals an intelligent and perceptive person. I even had to wonder whether her father or someone older had written it or edited it heavily. Reputable professionals have analyzed her handwriting and other aspects, though, and concluded that yes, this girl wrote it.
You can only wonder what she could have produced had she lived past 15.
One question I had about Anne Frank was whether, stuck in a small suite of rooms for two years, this 13- to 15-year-old thought about eternal, transcendent matters? Yes, she did.
Her family was Jewish but not particularly observant. The girls had attended a Jewish school and, while in hiding, the eight people took part in traditional religious rituals, especially on holidays. Otto remembered that Anne wasn’t particularly impressed with ceremony or “formalities.” But thoughts of God are scattered through her diary.
On Nov. 27, 1943, Anne wrote about her friend, Hanneli, who she had heard was in a concentration camp: “Merciful God, comfort her, so that at least she won’t be alone. Oh, if only You could tell her I’m thinking of her with compassion and love, it might help her go on.”
On March 31, 1944, after she and fellow annex resident Peter had started a sort of teen romance, she wrote: “My life here has gotten better, much better. God has not forsaken me, and He never will.”
She was firmly aware of the history of oppression of the Jewish people. In an entry on April 11, 1944, after a break-in at their building had frightened the group, Anne wrote: “We’ve been strongly reminded of the fact that we’re Jews in chains, chained to one spot, without any rights, but with a thousand obligations. We must put our feelings aside; we must be brave and strong, bear discomfort without complaint, do whatever is in our power and trust in God. …
“Who has put us through such suffering? It’s God who has made us the way we are, but it’s also God who will lift us up again. In the eyes of the world, we’re doomed, but if, after all this suffering, there are still Jews left, the Jewish people will be held up as an example. Who knows, maybe our religion will teach the world and all the people in it about goodness, and that’s the reason, the only reason, we have to suffer. …
“There will be a way out. God has never deserted our people. Through the ages Jews have had to suffer, but through the ages they’ve gone on living, and the centuries of suffering have only made them stronger…”
Anne and Margot were “home-schooled” during their concealment, probably reading more in those two years than students today read in a lifetime. On May 11, 1944, Anne listed several topics she was studying and added, “Oh, one more thing. The Bible. How long is it going to take before I come to the story of the bathing Susanna? And what do they mean by Sodom and Gomorrah? Oh, there’s still so much to find out and learn.”
She apparently had not been taught much about Jesus, although on July 6, 1944, she expressed disappointment that Peter “isn’t religious, scoffs at Jesus Christ and takes the Lord’s name in vain…”
On Nov. 3, 1943, she reported that her father had asked an outside helper “for a children’s Bible so I could finally learn something about the New Testament.” Her sister had asked Otto whether he was going to give a Bible to Anne for Hanukkah, and their father had replied, “Yes … Well, maybe St. Nicholas Day would be a better occasion.” I imagine Anne with a wry smile as she wrote that “Jesus and Hanukkah don’t exactly go together.”
No one knows what this compassionate, perceptive girl thought during the months she was dying at Bergen-Belsen. I doubt that she realized her April 5, 1944, comment about writing would come true:
“I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift…’
