A Case Study of Anne Frank

A Case Study of Anne Frank

Anne Frank is a Jewish girl who had to go into hiding during World War
II to escape from the Nazis. Together with seven others she hides in
the secret annex at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam. After more than two
years in hiding they are discovered and deported to concentration camps.
Anne’s father, Otto Frank, is the only one of the eight people to survive.
After her death Anne becomes world famous because of the diary she wrote
while in hiding.

Anne Frank was born on 12 June 1929 in the German city of Frankfurt, where
her father’s family had lived for generations. She has a sister, Margot, who is
three and a half years older. The economic crisis, Hitler’s rise to power and
growing antisemitism put an end to the family’s carefree life. Like many
other Jews, Otto Frank and his wife, Edith, decide to leave Germany.

Otto sets up a business in Amsterdam and the family finds a home on the
Merwedeplein. The children go to school, Otto works hard at his business and
Edith looks after the home. When the threat of war in Europe increases, Otto
and his family try to emigrate to England or the USA but these attempts fail. On
1 September 1939 Germany invades Poland. It is the beginning of the Second
World War.
For a while there is hope that The Netherlands will not become involved in the
war, but on 10 May 1940 German troops invade the country. Five days later The
Netherlands surrenders and is occupied. Anti-Jewish regulations soon
follow. Jews are allowed into fewer and fewer places. Anne and Margot must
attend a Jewish school and Otto loses his business.
When a renewed attempt to emigrate to the U.S.A. fails, Otto and Edith decide
to go into hiding. Otto sets up a hiding place in the rear annexe of his firm at
Prinsengracht 263. He does this together with his Jewish business
partner Hermann van Pels and with the help from his associates Johannes
Kleiman and Victor Kugler.
On 5 July 1942 Margot Frank receives a call-up to report for a German work
camp. The next day the Frank family goes into hiding. The Van Pels family
follows a week later and in November 1942 they are joined by an eighth person:
the dentist Fritz Pfeffer. They remain in the secret annexe for more than two
years.
In hiding, they have to keep very quiet, are often frightened and pass the time
together as well as they can. They are helped by the office workers, Johannes
Kleiman, Victor Kugler, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl; by Miep’s husband, Jan
Gies; and by the warehouse manager, Johannes Voskuijl, Bep’s father. These
helpers not only arrange food, clothes and books, they are the group’s contact
with the outside world.
Shortly before going into hiding Anne receives a diary for her birthday. She
starts writing straightaway and during her time in hiding she writes about events
in the secret annex and about herself. Her diary is a great support to her. Anne
also writes short stories and collects quotations from other writers in her ‘book
of beautiful sentences’.
When the Dutch minister of education in exile in London appeals on British
radio for people to keep war diaries, Anne decides to edit her diary and create a
novel called 'The Secret Annex'. She starts to rewrite, but she and the others are
discovered and arrested before she has finished.
On 4 August 1944 the people in hiding are arrested, along with their
helpers Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler. They pass from the security
service headquarters and prison to the transit camp Westerbork, from where
they are deported to Auschwitz. The two helpers are sent to the Amersfoort
camp. Johannes Kleiman is released shortly after his arrest and six months later
Victor Kugler escapes. Immediately after the arrests Miep Gies and Bep
Voskuijl rescue Anne's diary and papers that have been left behind in the secret
annex. Despite intensive investigations it has never been clear how the hiding
place was discovered.
Otto Frank is the only one of the eight people in hiding to survive the war.
During his long journey back to The Netherlands he learns that his wife, Edith,
has died. He knows nothing about his daughters and still hopes to see them
again. He arrives back in Amsterdam at the beginning of July. He goes straight
to Miep and Jan Gies and remains with them for another seven years.
Otto Frank tries to find his daughters, but in July he receives the news that they
both died of disease and deprivation in Bergen-Belsen. Miep Gies then gives
him Anne’s diary papers. Otto reads the diary and discovers a completely
different Anne. He is very moved by her writing.
Anne wrote in her diary that she wants to become a writer or a journalist in the
future, and that she wants to publish her diary as a novel. Friends convince Otto
Frank that the diary has great expressive power and on 25 June 1947 The Secret
Annexe is published in an edition of 3,000. Many more editions follow, also
translations, a play and a film.
People from all over the world learn of Anne Frank's story. Over the years Otto
Frank answers thousands of letters from people who have read his daughter's
diary. In 1960 the Anne Frank House becomes a museum. Otto Frank remains
involved with the Anne Frank House until his death in 1980 and campaigns for
human rights and respect.
Questions on Ecological Systems Theory
1. Which is/are the most influential systems that affected Anne’s

development as an individual? (3)
A) Microsystem
B) Mesosystem
C) Exosystem
D) Macrosystem
E) Chronosystem
2. Specify the environments (places and persons) in the systems

mentioned by you that influenced Anne most strongly. (4)
A) .....................................................................
B) .....................................................................
C) ......................................................................
D) .......................................................................
3. Why is it justified to apply Ecological Systems Theory to the case of

Anne Frank? (3)
A) It objectively explains an individual’s development in the context

of different influential environments
B) It considers the influences of an individual’s outer environment
C) It considers the influences of an individual’s inner environment
D) It considers both inner and outer environments that impact an
individual
E) It is the most scientific theory on human development
F) It compensates theories such as psychosexual, psychosocial,
cognitive development, archetypal, and hierarchy of needs

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A Case Study of Anne Frank

Questions on Ecological Systems Theory

1. Which is/are the most influential systems that affected Anne’s

2. Specify the environments (places and persons) in the systems

3. Why is it justified to apply Ecological Systems Theory to the case of

A) It objectively explains an individual’s development in the context

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