cover image Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary - A Photographic Remembrance

Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary - A Photographic Remembrance

Ruud Van Der Rol, Ruud Van Der Rol. Viking Children's Books, $18.99 (128pp) ISBN 978-0-670-84932-1

Since the original Dutch publication of Diary of a Young Girl in 1947, Anne Frank has become an international symbol, variously representing the innocence of youth, the fate of Jewish children under Nazi persecution, and hope and faith in the face of hatred (``In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart''). With its combination of family photographs (many reproduced here for the first time), biographical sketches of Anne Frank and the others in the ``Secret Annex,'' and brief essays identifying specific stages of the Holocaust, this astonishing book moves past symbolism to disentangle the real Anne Frank from mythography. Van der Rol and Verhoeven, who work at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, focus sharply on the facts about Anne Frank's life--and death. They document the Frank family's odyssey from Germany to Holland, locate a farewell postcard Anne sent just before going into hiding, display Anne's roughly written diary entries, and quote those who saw her before she died in Bergen Belsen. Sidebars and interpolated passages set her experiences against a broader historical backdrop, explaining major developments of WW II with maps and photographs as well as text. They also discuss the general issue of Jews' going into hiding in Holland: photographs of very cramped hiding places contrast with pictures and maps showing the Franks' relatively spacious quarters; children are shown going into hiding without their parents; a receipt indicates bounty paid to someone who turned Jews over to the Nazis. A superb exploration of the particular and the universal meanings of a seminal work. BOMC selection. Ages 10-up. (Sept.)