Anne Frank LEVELED BOOK • Z2

A Reading A–Z Level Z2 Leveled Book

Word Count: 2,324
Anne Frank
Connections
Writing and Art
Research to learn more about the Anne Frank
House. Make a brochure about it, explaining
what visitors can experience there.
Social Studies
Read The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne
Frank. Identify the lessons from her story.
Share your ideas with your class.

Z
2
1•
Z • Z

Written by Sean McCollum

Visit www.readinga-z.com
for thousands of books and materials. www.readinga-z.com
Words to Know
Anne Frank annex memoir
decrees Nazi
emigrated occupation
Holocaust systematic
infamous totalitarian
Jews typhus

Page 3: Today, Prinsengracht 263 is a museum. The rooms of the Anne

Frank House have been restored to look like they did while Anne and her
family sheltered there. More than a million people visit the site each year.

Photo Credits:
Front cover: dpa picture alliance archive/Alamy Stock Photo; title page:
© Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images; page 3: © iStock.com/dennisvdw; page 5:
© A. Burkatovski/Fine Art Images/SuperStock; page 6: © Neofot/ullstein bild/
Getty Images; page 7: © ullstein bild Dtl./ullstein bild/Getty Images; page 8:
© fototeca gilardi/Marka/SuperStock; page 11 (top): © Fine Art Images/Heritage
Image/age footstock; page 11 (bottom): © Photo 12/Universal Images Group/
Getty Images; page 12: © Anne Frank Fonds Basel/Premium Archive/Getty
Images; page 14: © Michael Conroy/AP Images; page 16: © Ron Cardy/REX/
Shutterstock; page 17: © Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/
Getty Images; page 18: © Calle Hesslefors/ullstein bild/Getty Images; page 19:
© ADN-Bildarchiv/ullstein bild/Getty Images
Written by Sean McCollum
The editor wishes to thank the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam for its careful
www.readinga-z.com review of this manuscript.

Focus Question
Anne Frank
Who was Anne Frank, and why is her Level Z2 Leveled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL Z2
diary significant? Written by Sean McCollum
Fountas & Pinnell Y–Z
All rights reserved. Reading Recovery N/A
www.readinga-z.com
DRA 70+
Into Hiding
The doorbell rang a little before three in the
afternoon on July 5, 1942 . Anne Frank, thirteen
years old, expected it to be a friend who had
promised to stop by . Instead, it was the postman
with a summons for Anne’s older sister, Margot .
She was to report for transport to a “work camp .”
The Germans had invaded the Netherlands two
years earlier, and now they were rounding up
Amsterdam’s Jews to ship them away on trains
to such camps—and an unknown fate .

Anne and Margot’s mother, Edith Frank, was

shaken by the letter . Rumors had been leaking out
since Germany had overrun much of Europe in the
first two years of World War II (1939–1945) . Jewish
people all across German-controlled Europe were
being rounded up and sent to concentration camps .
Table of Contents
Little official news was given about the camps or
Into Hiding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 the people who’d been sent there .
Storm Clouds of Hate and War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Anne’s father, Otto Frank, arrived home
Under Nazi Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 a short time later that afternoon and reassured his
daughters that no one was going to break up their
Escaping into the Diary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 family . He, Edith, and friends had seen this danger
Caught . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 coming and had been making secret plans . He
told Anne and Margot to pack their school bags .
A Tragic End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The first thing Anne put in hers was a red-and-
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 green checkered diary she’d received as a birthday

Anne Frank • Level Z2 3 4

Storm Clouds of Hate and War
During World War I (1914–1918), Otto Frank
From top left, clockwise: had been a German officer . His service was
Edith Frank; baby Anne
and Edith; Otto Frank; honored with the Iron Cross, a military medal .
Margot Frank; Margot, After the war, he settled in Frankfurt, Germany,
Otto, and Anne
and worked together with family members on
several business ventures . By all accounts, he
was a kind, playful, intelligent, hardworking man .
He married Edith in 1925, and they soon had two
daughters . Margot was born in 1926; Annelies
Marie Frank—Anne—followed three years later
on June 12, 1929 .
present the month before . She had already begun Germany had endured many hardships
filling it with her private thoughts . throughout the 1920s . The war and its aftermath
The next morning, the four Franks abandoned had left the country broke, and many Germans
their home in a heavy rain . They left a fake note were desperate and angry . Different political
hinting they had escaped to Switzerland . Instead, groups battled for power as Germany worked to
Anne and her parents walked while Margot rode become a democracy . When the Great Depression
her bike several miles to Prinsengracht 263, the struck the world’s
address of a small warehouse at the Amsterdam businesses and
company Otto had owned before the German economy in 1929,
invasion . it hit Germany
especially hard .
The family disappeared into an apartment
of small rooms hidden upstairs—and would remain
in hiding there for more than two years . During
that time, trapped with danger all around, Anne Catholic nuns feed
poured out her thoughts and feelings on paper . people in 1930s Germany.

Anne Frank • Level Z2 5 6

A man named Adolf Otto and Edith Frank immediately saw the
Hitler took advantage threat the Nazis represented . The Nazis passed
of that turmoil . Like more and more laws to take away the property
Otto Frank, Hitler had and rights of German Jews . The couple knew
earned an Iron Cross they had to get their young family out of Germany
during World War I . before the situation grew worse . Otto gained
For reasons that remain the opportunity to set up a small company in
unclear, however, he the big city of Amsterdam . The Franks emigrated
blamed his country’s to the Netherlands in 1933–1934, fleeing Germany
defeat on Germany’s along with thousands of other German Jews
Adolf Hitler (center) in 1933
Jews . His book Mein and other targets of Nazi persecution .
Kampf—My Struggle—was published in the
Anne was not yet five
mid-1920s . In it, Hitler described his murderous
when her family moved
hatred for Jews and his belief that so-called
to Amsterdam . The dark-
“Aryans” were superior to other races .
haired, dark-eyed girl was
Hitler led the National Socialist German full of spirit and mischief
Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi Party . and loved being the center of
At first, many Germans treated the Nazis and attention . She was too young
their violent ideas as jokes . As Germany’s troubles to understand her parents’
grew, though, more of its citizens were willing to worries or their sadness
turn to Hitler as the country’s problem solver . He about fleeing Germany,
Anne in 1939
promised to make Germany great and powerful and so she enjoyed a happy
again . He transformed his followers’ fears and childhood in her new home . She liked school,
frustrations into pride and hatred, particularly mostly, and her days were filled with friends, ping-
toward Jewish people . In 1933, the Nazis took pong parties, ice cream, and the love of her family .
complete control of Germany’s government under
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded
Hitler’s totalitarian leadership .
Poland, igniting World War II . Within a year,

Anne Frank • Level Z2 7 8

the German army and air force had conquered Defeating the Nazis, though, would take
the majority of Western Europe . The Netherlands time—time the Franks and other Jewish families
had declared its neutrality, saying it wanted no part were running out of . The German occupiers kept
in the war, but Germany invaded it anyway . The persecuting Amsterdam’s Jewish population with
Dutch government surrendered on May 15, 1940, more anti-Jewish decrees . By 1939, Jews’ radios
after just five days of fighting . were confiscated and they had to obey a curfew .
In 1940, their telephones were confiscated, too .
Now almost all the Jews of Europe were trapped
In 1941, all Jews over the age of six were forced
in the nightmare the Franks had tried to escape .
to wear a yellow Star of David with “Jew” written
Under Nazi Occupation on it . They had to turn in their bicycles but were
For two years, Amsterdam’s Jewish population forbidden to use trams or ride in cars—even their
lived in the open under Nazi occupation . Anne’s own . They were forbidden to keep pets or leave
family went about their days as normally as the country . In 1942, all schools were closed
possible . Meanwhile, Otto Frank tried to use to Jewish children .
his overseas contacts to arrange for his family The Nazis put more and more restrictions in
to emigrate again, this time to Great Britain, the place to intimidate, control, and humiliate Jewish
United States, or Cuba—anywhere they might people living in Amsterdam and the rest of the
be safe . Every attempt was blocked or rejected . Netherlands . Many Dutch people protested and
In 1941, two events occurred that gave the tried to protect their Jewish friends, but they,
Franks hope that Hitler had bitten off more than too, were often arrested and imprisoned for their
he could chew . Germany invaded the Soviet Union efforts . Meanwhile, the Nazis were determined to
in June . Then that December, the United States follow through with wiping out the Jewish people
declared war on Germany, creating a powerful in Europe . In the Netherlands, they accelerated the
alliance with Great Britain and the Soviets . campaign to send them to concentration camps .
Now it seemed like a race against the calendar After going into hiding in July 1942, the Franks
until Germany would be beaten back, freeing were joined by Otto Frank’s business partner,
the Netherlands and the rest of Europe . Hermann van Pels; his wife, Auguste; and Peter,

Anne Frank • Level Z2 9 10

their sixteen-year-old son .
That November, dentist Fritz
Pfeffer joined the two families
in hiding .

In her diary, Anne

referred to their hiding place
as the “Secret Annex .” Anne’s
father and the other adults had
Peter van Pels
planned well, and it was fairly
comfortable, though not roomy . The annex included
a kitchen, bathroom, and cold running water . Its
Otto Frank (center) sits surrounded by his office workers in 1935 (clockwise
three main rooms covered about 46 square meters left to right): Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, and Bep Voskuijl.
(500 sq . ft .), and each served as both a living area A few years later, they worked to keep him and his family alive.

and bedroom . They eventually hid the single

The Franks, van Pelses, and Fritz Pfeffer were
entrance behind a bookcase . They covered all of the
greatly aided by their “helpers .” This was Anne’s
rooms’ windows with cloth and cardboard to block
term for the non-Jewish friends who had agreed to
any light from showing at night .
supply them with food and other necessities . The
helpers included friends and employees loyal to
Otto Frank and Hermann van Pels: Miep Gies and
her husband, Jan; Elisabeth “Bep” Voskuijl; Bep’s
father, Johannes Voskuijl; Johannes Kleiman; and
Victor Kugler . By helping to hide Jews, they risked
imprisonment, deportation, and execution .

Anne wrote about the helpers in her diary .

They never complained, she wrote, or indicated
The bookcase that hid the entrance to the Secret Annex still stands
that she and the others were a burden . Instead,
at the Anne Frank House. they came upstairs each day with a smile, books

Anne Frank • Level Z2 11 12

and newspapers, flowers and gifts on holidays and
birthdays, and, perhaps best of all, conversation .

Escaping into the Diary

Everyone in the Secret Annex knew the
extreme danger . If they were caught, they would be
immediately arrested . During the week, employees
worked a floor below the secret rooms, forcing
Anne and everyone else upstairs to maintain
perfect silence . They had to move about on tiptoe,
and conversations had to be whispered . No one a replica of Anne’s diary
could run water or flush the toilet for fear someone
would hear, suspect, and turn them in . Money was Anne’s writing became a way to manage the
being offered to bounty hunters for turning in Jews daily strain, to shake off all her cares and sorrows .
who had gone into hiding . She shared dreams of becoming a journalist or
During this forced silence, Anne turned to maybe an actress . She had pictures of movie stars
her diary . She addressed many of her entries to an pasted on the wall in the little room she shared
imaginary friend, Kitty . She shared insights and with Pfeffer .
observations about her family and housemates, When all the workers were gone, Anne and the
creating different names for them to protect their others could wander downstairs but never outside .
feelings . She glued in old family photos . They gathered around the radio to listen to
She also described her feelings about broadcasts . In March 1944, Anne heard a broadcast
growing into a young woman under such grim from a top Dutch official . He asked citizens in the
circumstances . Many times, she expressed despair Netherlands to write about their experiences under
and great fear that they would be caught . She Nazi occupation . These would serve as historical
quickly filled her first diary and moved on records as well as evidence of Nazi war crimes .
to notebooks and sheets of loose paper . Soon after, Anne began to revise her diary entries
carefully as if preparing them for publication .

Anne Frank • Level Z2 13 14

In June 1944, Anne heard welcome news . The
Allies had landed a huge invasion force in France,
and the Soviet Union was forcing the Germans
to retreat in the east . Anne’s father began keeping
track of the war’s progress on a wall map . Hope
grew that the Nazis would soon be defeated, and
the Franks and their friends in the annex could
return to freedom .

Caught
On August 4, 1944—more than two years after
the Franks had disappeared into the annex—the
secret police raided it . To this day, no one knows
for sure how their hiding place was discovered .
The German officer in charge forced one of the Women prisoners are packed into barracks at Auschwitz.
helpers to lead the police to the hidden rooms .
The Franks and the others could do nothing but In early September 1944, the Franks were
raise their hands at gunpoint . The officer was shipped to Auschwitz, the Nazis’ most infamous
stunned to learn the group had avoided detection concentration camp, located in Poland . There, the
for more than two years . family was split up . Otto was sent to the men’s
camp; Edith, Anne, and Margot were sent to
As well as arresting Anne and her family, the the women’s camp . The winter cold, illness, tiny
police searched every closet and nook of the Secret amounts of food, and backbreaking work took a
Annex . They discovered a stash of papers and terrible toll . Edith did her best to help Margot and
notebooks—Anne’s diary—and scattered them Anne, even giving them all her food . However, on
on the floor . Miep Gies, one of the helpers, later November 1 the girls were separated from their
gathered them up and put them in a desk drawer . mother . The Nazis sent Margot and Anne to
She had every hope of returning them to Anne Bergen-Belsen, a different concentration camp
after the war . in Germany .

Anne Frank • Level Z2 15 16

A Tragic End They saw many signs of the systematic murders
Germany surrendered in May 1945, ending that had been carried out there . Most of the
World War II in Europe . Allied soldiers who survivors were sick, starving, and close to death .
liberated the concentration camps were horrified Otto Frank survived . He returned to
by what they found . Amsterdam already knowing his wife had died
of starvation at Auschwitz, but he held out hope
The Holocaust that Margot and Anne still lived .
Hitler and the Nazis’ hatred toward Jewish, Romany,
and homosexual people, as well as people with disabilities, Soon, though, he received the heartbreaking
fed Nazi efforts to rid Europe of groups they considered news from an acquaintance who had known the
inferior. At first, the Nazis tried to expel Germany’s Jewish
girls at Bergen-Belsen . They had become sick with
citizens. Many fled the country—at least those who could
afford to. By 1942, though, the Nazis’ plan had become mass typhus and died within a week of each other in
murder. Most concentration camps were located in Poland February 1945, just weeks before British forces
and Germany. Jews from all across occupied Europe were liberated the camp . Anne was just fifteen years old .
rounded up and sent there. All the people sent to certain
camps were killed. At others, able-bodied people were Miep Gies gave Otto Frank the five notebooks,
starved and worked to death more slowly. By the war’s end, along with more than two hundred loose sheets of
the Nazis had killed six million Jews—two-thirds of Europe’s his daughter’s writings .
Jewish population. In addition, the Nazis also murdered five
Otto took the books
million people from other groups they sought to erase.
and began to read them .
Instead of a little girl’s
musings, he found a
moving memoir of her
experiences . “I had no
idea of the depth of her
thoughts and feelings,”
Hungarian Jews arrive at Auschwitz around 1942. he later said .
It was the largest of the concentration camps;
1.1 million people are thought to have died there. Otto Frank in 1976

Anne Frank • Level Z2 17 18

A Book That Still Lives Glossary
Readers have been opening Anne Frank’s diary for annex (n.) a building that is an addition to a larger
seventy years. The text has been translated into more than building (p . 11)
sixty languages, from Farsi in Iran to Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.
According to the Anne Frank Center, more than thirty million decrees (n.) official orders or decisions (p . 10)
copies have been sold worldwide. Much of the money it
has earned has been donated to charity. Anne’s work has emigrated left one country to settle in another (p . 8)
also been adapted into an award-winning play, an award- (v.)
winning film, and two TV miniseries. Anne’s writing offers Holocaust the systematic killing of people,
keen insights into the heart of an intuitive teen caught in a (n.) especially Jews, by the Nazis during
terrible time. Her story is a timeless warning against hatred World War II (p . 19)
and extremism.
infamous famous for being evil, bad, or dangerous
(adj.) (p . 16)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl first
appeared in print in the Netherlands two Jews (n.) people whose ancestors are Hebrews
or whose religion is Judaism (p . 4)
years after the war and eventually became an
international phenomenon . It is still read and memoir (n.) a written retelling of one’s experiences
taught worldwide, a tribute to a young girl’s spirit (p . 18)
as well as a moving account of life in a time of Nazi (adj.) relating to the ruling political party
terror and war . For many in Germany from 1933 to 1945 (p . 7)
readers, Anne’s story puts
occupation a situation in which a military force
a personal face on the (n.) takes control of an area or country (p . 9)
horrors of the Holocaust .
She was a promising systematic done thoroughly; carried out with
(adj.) a planned method or formula (p . 18)
young writer whose full
life was stolen from her— totalitarian of or relating to a political system where
the full extent of her talent (adj.) the government has absolute power over
a country’s people (p . 7)
and potential was also
Anne at age 12 stolen from the world . typhus (n.) a serious disease that causes high fever,
headache, and a dark red rash (p . 18)

Anne Frank • Level Z2 19 20