The Diary of Anne Frank

Background Information

November 1918 to 1945

November 1918

• Allies: Britain, Italy, France and the United States ---- Defeated Germany, in ending World War I

Treaty of Versailles• The Interior of the Palace des

Glaces during the signing of

Peace Terms • Germany accepted the Treaty

of Versailles• Germany’s postwar

government, the democratic Weimar Republic, faced the anger of many Germans, who were struggling financially and hated to see Germany weakened.

Hitler’s introduction to leadership.

• Joined army in 1914; part of his assignment was to report on anti-government meetings. Became interested in Nazi party.

• Only six members of the Nazi party when he joined; he was in charge of propaganda.

• Tried to take over government in a revolt, but was caught and imprisoned. Wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in prision.

National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party)

• First rally in Munich, January 23,1923

• Promoted extreme Nationalism

• Promised to make Germany a socialist state

• Restored German power • Helped citizens financially• Appealed to German

population

1929

• Stock Market crashed on Wall Street

Hitler gains power.• In 1932 ran for president against Paul von Hindenburg,

but lost by a narrow margin.• Chancellor Franz von Papen forced out because of

pressure from Hitler.• Hitler refused to back his successor, Kurt von

Schleicher. • 1933: President Hindenburg wanted Hitler’s support;

Hitler demanded to be made chancellor. • Hindenburg (85 and senile) approved.

• Hitler “removed” key leaders, to be in complete power.

• August, 1934, declares himself Fuhrer, combining presidency with chancellorship.

• Totalitarian regime (no personal freedom).

Nazi Party

• Hitler and the Nazis based their program on extreme nationalism and racism.

• Blamed Jews and other groups for Germany’s problems

• Believed non-Jewish Germans,- called “Aryans” could form a master race in a united Germany

February 1933

• Freedom of speech and assembly was suspended by the Nazi government.

• The Reichstag building went up in flames• The Burning of the Books in Nazi Germany, 1933:• Museum of tolerance

• Nazi anti-Semitic legislation and propaganda against "Non-Aryans" was a thinly disguised attack against anyone who had Jewish parents or grandparents. Jews felt increasingly isolated from the rest of German

society.

March-April 1933

• The Gestapo, or Secret Police, was established by the Nazi government

• The Nazi’s declared a boycott of Jewish businesses, medical, and legal practices.

• Law passed to exclude Non-Aryans.– Removes Jews from government and

teaching positions

Summer of 1933

• The Frank’s decided to move to the Netherlands because of increasing tensions in Germany

• "In the Netherlands, after those experiences in Germany, it was as if our life was restored to us. Our children went to school and at least in the beginning our lives proceeded normally... In those days it was possible for us to start over and to feel free."

• Otto Frank

• In 1934 the economy was still not balanced enough for Germany to work on its own. In 1935 Germany ran out of money completely primarily due to the reparations it was still paying to the victor countries.

Fall 1935

• The Nuremberg Laws are passed defining Jews as non-citizens

• Aryan and Jewish marriages are illegal

March 1936

• Germans move in the Rhineland

• German’s violate the Treaty of Versailles

Important events in 1938

• Germany annexed Austria• Germany occupied Czechoslovakia

• - Adolf Hitler creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military, and sacks political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies

September 1939

• Hitler invades Poland • World War II begins

• The statue of German religious reformer Martin Luther in front of the ruins of the Frauenkirche, or Church of our Lady, in Dresden, in a March 1967 picture and a similar view of the statue in front of the restored building, in Feb. 2005.

Anne

• Anne Frank receives a diary for her 13th birthday

Anne Frank

• June 12, 1942, Anne receives her diary on her 13th birthday

• July 5, 1942 Margo receives a call-up notice to report for deportation to a labor camp

• July 6, 1942, the Frank family move to the Secret Annex

• The Story of Anne Frank 1929-1945

The Franks go into hiding

• Anne Frank’s Family

Dresden/Hamburg• The View from Above: In the war's closing weeks, allied bombers launched

an assault on Dresden, then crammed with refugees fleeing the Soviet army. The resulting firestorm devastated the city. No one has figured how many Germans perished in the attack, but estimates vary from 30,000 to 80,000. This is the view of Dresden from the viewpoint of the B-17 bombers. City of Dresden in renovation and Hamburg.