It would not have landed on my reading list if not for the fact that a friend from ISS asked if I wanted to go with her to the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. I never thought for a second that the her story actually occurred in the Netherlands! Since I did not have much to do anymore since it was my last few days in the Netherlands, I gladly joined her to the Museum.
As we were walking around Anne Frank Huis, I felt that the experience would have been much more meaningful if I have read her book. The house looked like an ordinary house. Names and notes that were posted by pictures or desks meant little to me, though I could still feel some goosebumps thinking that the people who lived in that house suffered terribly from the war.
After the trip, I promised myself to read the book. And now, I am halfway through the diary with just a few hours on it. If I did not know that this book was actually a diary, I would have thought that this was just a wonderfully crafted tale of a young Jewish girl stuck with her family and strangers in a hidden house. Yet we all know that it is a story that happened. Truth is indeed stranger, and immensely more fascinating... and tragic, than fiction.
It's a bit funny that I am reading the book at a time that I am quarantined from the world, unable to go out and see people lest I spread my virus. Yet my predicament is barely anything compared to the madness that must have been Anne Frank's life.
I have not come to the ending yet but I already feel a bit of pain and sadness at the thought that this brilliant girl will come to a tragic end. How I wish somebody would discover who ratted them out to the Nazis. For what? Maybe to channel the anger I feel with everyone else who has read the book. Maybe so the Frank's can have a certain sense of justice, I don't know.
I wiki-ed a bit about Anne Frank and discovered that her last entry was August 1, 1944. August 1 is my birthday. Manuel Quezon died that day in the US. In 2009, Corazon Aquino passed away from cancer. My birthday does not seem to bode well with famous people.
Every pause I have from reading the book, I am thankful to have lived in a time of freedom. Indeed we rally and fight against constant injustice, corruption and greed. But what we experience now can never compare to what happened during the time of World War II.
I am glad that time is over.
3 comments:
This is the one book, with the exception of the Bible, that has truly and deeply affected my life after I read it. I read it more than 20 years ago and I still feel the anger and the power of those words echoing in my mind. I've collected many books on Anne Frank, wanting to know as much about her as I can.
One day I wish I could visit her "Secret Annex". I can already see myself crying as soon as I step in.
I do hope you get your wish to see the Achterhuis. Now that I have read the book, I could imagine myself getting emotional if I see it again.
Some people are really meant to be gifts to other people. I think Anne is one of them.
Thank you for dropping by!
I felt the same way when I first read The Diary of a Young Girl, and every time I read it after that first time. Sobrang nagpapasalamat ako na hindi ako nabuhay sa ganu'ng sitwasyon. At bilib talaga ako sa batang si Anne. Nakakabaliw 'yung sitwasyon nila.
Noong namatay si Mies Giep nitong taon lang, sobrang naiyak ako. Para akong namatayan ng kaibigan. Having read about her all these years kasi made me feel like I have this personal realtionship/ connection with her. Sobrang ina-admire ko siya for her bravery, courage and heroism.
Hay, sana mabisita ko rin talaga ang Secret Annex nila Anne.
BTW, hindi ako makapaniwala na hindi mo nabasa ang The Story of My Life ni Helen Keller at and Anne series! Hehe:) Book #2 of the series, Anne of avonlea was one of the things that made me realize that I really wanted to be a teacher. Sana mabasa mo sila. :)
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