Anne Frank

Unknown photographer; Collectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam [Public domain]

This month is the seventy-fifth anniversary
of the death of Anne Frank.
She died in February 1945
in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
most likely of typhus.

This valiant fifteen-year-old heroine
lived her defining years
in hiding and under a cloud of fear.
Yet her bright spirit
reaches across three-quarters of a century
and speaks compellingly to us
about hope and dreams and goodness.

We know about Anne Frank through her diary.
Her first entry was written one month
after she turned thirteen.
Her last entry was written three months
after she turned fifteen.

 Like most girls her age,
Anne had her ideals and her dreams.
She knew what her values were
and held on to them. 

She wrote in her diary:
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals
because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out.
Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything,
I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

People in her life were good.
Her father loved her deeply and 
did everything he could to protect her.
At Auschwitz her mother gave her food rations
to her daughters and died of starvation herself.
Friends of the family risked their lives to hide her.

During her years in hiding Anne developed into
the young woman she was meant to be in her coming years.
She developed a confidence and certainty about herself
and a bold spirit that was eager to live in the world.

 She wrote:
“Although I’m only fourteen, I know quite well
who is right and who is wrong.
I have my own opinions,
my own ideas and principles.
I feel more of a person than a child.”

 Anne wanted to be a writer.
She knew what made her happy
and that she had skills to develop
and, importantly,
 she knew she wanted to be useful and make others happy.

On April 5, 1944,
Anne wrote:
“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
which I can use to develop
myself and to express all that’s inside me!” 

It is beyond heartbreaking to know that
even though Anne did become a writer
and has been helpful to people she never met,
she, herself, did not live
to enjoy the fruits of her beautiful heart and writing. 

It is unspeakable that the dark powers of the world
came after Anne and thousands of others
and destroyed her life.
Every loving heart is outraged and grieved. 

I have to believe that the Feminine Spirit
was loving Anne and helping her in every way she could.
Anne wrote an entry that seems intended to comfort
the lonely and afraid through the solace of
beauty and nature,
which is the Divine Feminine domain. 

“The best remedy for those who are
afraid, lonely, or unhappy
is to go outside somewhere
where they can be quite alone with
the heavens, nature, and God.
Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be
and that God wishes to see people happy,
amidst the simple beauty of nature.” 

Such wisdom and goodness from
this dear Super-Girl. 

Anne’s spirit and life compel us to know
that it is incumbent on us to
protect the vulnerable
and provide safety and help
to young people placed in our lives
so that they may become who they are
and live their dreams. 

Anne Frank
June 12, 1929 – February 1945

PS Frank, Anne. The Diary of a Young Girl, 2015