By the time Anne turned fifteen, the families had been in hiding for almost two years—more than 650 days. It was June 1944. The war was drawing to a close. Italy, once an ally of Germany, had surrendered. The Allied forces were freeing France. On a map pinned to a wall of the Annex, Otto kept track of the Allies’ progress. To Anne it was as if friends were approaching. She began looking ahead to freedom.
On July 15, 1944, she wrote, “I think it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end . . . In the meantime I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out!”
Then on the morning of August 4, 1944, Peter heard loud shouting from below. Men’s voices. With guns raised, Nazi police stormed the Annex. After so long, after being so careful, they were caught. It was all over.
Someone had betrayed the people in the Secret Annex. But who? To this day no one knows. Certainly it was not any of the helpers.
After Anne and the others were led off, Miep sneaked into the Annex. She wanted to get there before the Nazis returned to clear out everything. She found Anne’s diary on the floor, pages scattered all over. Miep gathered them up, as well as the Frank family photo albums, and ocked them in a desk drawer. She hoped that after the war she would be able to return everyhing to the amily.
As for the eight people in the Annex, all ended up in a concentration camp in Poland. Mr. Pfeffer, Mr. Van Pels, Peter, and Otto were on the men’s side.
Anne, Margot, Edith, and Mrs. Van Pels went to the women’s side.
At the camp most people were put to death right away. Life for those who weren’t could hardly be called life at all. Survivors say it is impossible to describe how awful it was. Margot and Anne were now separated from both their mother and father. The girls struggled to survive, but both came down with a sickness called typhus. They died in March of 1945.
In April, British soldiers arrived and freed everyone left alive in the camp. The war was over. Finally. But it was too late for Anne Frank.
TWO LEADERS
DURING WORLD WAR II, WINSTON CHURCHILL, THE PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN, AND FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, NOT ONLY WERE UNITED AGAINST THE GERMANS BUT BECAME CLOSE PERSONAL FRIENDS. ROOSEVELT WAS SERVING HIS THIRD TERM AS PRESIDENT WHEN THE UNITED STATES JOINED THE ALLIED FORCES AT THE END OF 1941. THAT HELPED TURN THE TIDE OF THE WAR. HE AND CHURCHILL MET SECRETLY TO COORDINATE THE ATTACKS AGAINST THEIR COMMON ENEMY. A VICTIM OF POLIO WHO WAS CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR, FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL PRESIDENTS. SADLY, HE DIED In APRIL OF 1945, ONLY MONTHS BEFORE THE WAR ENDED.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT |