FINAL QUESTION

I think this play shows us that we need freedom in many ways. First of all, we need freedom as a human. Second, we need our minds to be free also. If our minds and thoughts are blocked out, it won't be a very happy world. When all the people in the annex, Mr. Frank, Mrs. Frank, Margot Frank, Anne Frank, Mr. Van Daan, Mrs. Van Daan, Peter Van Daan, and Mr. Dussel, had to go into hiding there were many conflicts between them. Some problems were just silly things to be troubled by. For example, how evenly people cut food. Mrs. Van Daan was going to divide a chocolate cake that Miep brought for the people in the annex but then Mr. Dussel said that Mrs. Frank should cut it because Mrs. Frank divides food more evenly than Mrs. Van Daan. Situations without freedom can cause many problems and it can influence your relationships with one another.

I think this play reveals that the power of love can be distracted by conflicts and situations. In the play, they had a very powerful love to one another but at times, their love would be ignored because of frightening things and things that bothered them a lot. It was a very hard time for them because each day they could hear the sounds of war and suffering right outside their windows. Even through your hard times, you should still maintain your love towards your family and friends. We shouldnt get distracted and we shouldnt ignore the love that you carry for another person.

In this play, it teaches us that we have to keep our hopes up in any kind of situation. Having courage and hope helps yourself a lot. Especially at times like the Holocaust, when they had to go into hiding, they tried to stay courageous and they tried to keep their hopes up. Mr. Kraler tried to tell them that the war was going well so that they wouldnt worry too much even though the war wasnt going well after all. It is important to have courage and hope because if you dont, you fall into misery and you suffer a lot. For example, "When My Name was Keoko" is a book that has a similar idea of Anne Frank's diary because in this book, there is also a war going on, except that it isnt in their country but they are being controlled by the Japanese. The characters in that book, try to believe that they will be freed once again and they will be able to live but at some points, when they hear that the Japanese had succeeded in attacks, they probably lost some hope.

In this play, it is important to know which side is good and which side is evil. Hitler persuaded the Germans and the Nazis that what they are doing will help them out. He wanted it to seem like they were the good guys. However, they werent doing the right thing at all. The Nazis and Hitler probably thought they were doing good for themselves but they did things that werent right at all. For example, they persecuted Jews because Hitler didnt like them and he made more reasons for the Nazis and the Germans to hate them so that it would be easier to get the Jews and kill them. Anyways, I believe that Hitler just disliked the Jews because he thought they had the best jobs and that they had a higher ranking then themselves. It was a horrible thing to do for revenge.

Books, Movies, Documentories, etc....

I'm not quite sure why there are so many retellings of Anne Frank's diary. But it probably is because Anne Frank's diary tells and expresses so much about what people had to go through during the Holocaust. This event is so famous. Many people dont believe that the Holocaust was true and that everyone is making this up because all the retellings arent exactly the same. They use that as an excuse to say that the Holocaust never happened. I think that people keep retelling this story because they want everyone to know about this historic event and that we all have a lesson to learn through it. It is important to learn about Anne's life to see how people suffered truly. This story is a good way to reveal the truth and explain so much about the Holocaust. They probably think that everyone should read or hear about this and that we should all study about it. Plus, Anne Frank's diary is really interesting. It tells a lot about everything. The war, relationships with Peter, the conflicts between the people living in the annex, and many other things are all in Anne's diary. She managed to write about how they were caught by the soldiers. It was a really sad part because all that time they were safe and they felt some hope but now it was all ruined. When she left her precious diary behind she probably felt really sad. But because she left it behind we can now read it and learn from it. Now anyone in the world can learn about what her life was like and what happened during the Holocaust.

What I Would Like to Ask the Survivors

If I could interview a survivor of the Holocaust I would ask them a lot of questions such as:

1. What did it really feel like to be in hiding and trying not to be caught by the Germans?
2. Can you explain to me how terrible the situation was?
3. Was there a time when you were an inch close to becoming caught?
4. How were you able to hide?

(If the person was in a concentration camp)

1. What did they do to you there?
2. Did they give you enough needs?
3. How did you feel when you were in there?
4. How did you get caught?
5. What did it feel like to be taken to a concentration camp or a death camp?
6. Did you ever talk with anyone even when you were feeling your lowest?
7. What happened to your family?

There is much more that I would like to ask any Holocaust survivor but I think this is good enough for now~ =] Anyways I think the whole event of the Holocaust is very interesting but also a horrible part of history. The things that happened to many people were just too sad. If I had lived at that time, I probably would have struggled more than Anne in that tight, small annex.

Question 5 (#6)

During the Hanukkah celebration, the people in the annex hears a rattling of the door. They turn off the lights and they become silent. They quietly take their shoes off and try to listen to hear who came in. It was a burglar but they were all unsure of who it would be. So Mr. Frank went downstairs carefully but the thief had already fled. But soon when Mr. Frank finally found out about what happened, he saw the front door flung open and so he went towards it but there was a night watch man walking along the street and he caught sight of the door too. Mr. Frank was able to quickly hide behind the door while the watch man looked in to see if anyone was there. It was a really close one for Mr. Frank. The night watch man came out of the house and found two guards and at that moment Mr. Frank quickly ran up the stairs. To make things worse Peter and Anne had followed Mr. Frank but Anne fainted so Peter had to carry her up and all three of them went into the annex again. The guards searched through the work place to see if anyone was there. They came across the book shelf and became very suspicious because they kept hearing noises from the top floor. There was a loud crash and a meow so they just laughed and said it was just a cat and went back down the stairs and out of the work place. The people in the annex were so relieved. Mr. Dussel, however, believed that because of the noises, the guards will catch the thief. The thief will give information about the noises upstairs if the guards will let him go. Mr. Dussel believed that the thief will give a ransom for telling the guards that there are people hiding in the annex. I think that, that wont happen and that everyone is thinking too much and worrying too much about what would happen to them.

Question 5 (#5)

When Anne had a nightmare in the middle of her sleep, Mrs. Frank came rushing into her room and tried to calm her down. Mr. Dussel became annoyed and said rude things about Anne. So Mrs. Frank shooed him away. Mr. Dussel and Anne's relationship wasn't so good. Also another person that brought tension between Anne was Mrs. Frank because when Mrs. Frank was sitting with Anne trying to comfort her and talk to her about the nightmare, Anne just said she didn't need any of it. Mrs. Frank just wanted to help Anne but Anne was pretty disrespectful to her mother. Anne just asked for Mr. Frank to come in. By that remark Mrs. Frank became very hurt and affected so she just left Anne's room and got Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank could see that his wife felt sad and hurt so when he went into Anne's room and talked to her he told her about how her mother was feeling sad because Anne doesn't show any love towards her. Anne felt that her father was the only person that understood her and that was similar to herself. So probably she didn't really like her mother as much as she loved her father. Even though Mrs. Frank tries to interact with Anne, Anne seems to refuse to interact back so it is harder for Mrs. Frank to have a better relationship with Anne. In the end, Anne realized that she was wrong to treat her mother like that and she tried harder to become a better daughter to Mrs. Frank. I predict that in the end, Anne and Mrs. Frank will have a really close bond with each other like Anne has a bond with her father.

Question 5 (#2)

I think the fear of discovery and the need to keep silent for certain hours each day would have been the hardest thing about living in the secret annex. Probably everyone was afraid of being discovered because if they are caught in hiding, they probably would get dragged off into the death camp. If they are not quiet for certain hours in the day, they have a possibility of getting caught and again being dragged off into the death camp. Probably people were worried that the children would make a noise or Peter's cat. If they make one wrong move and make a loud noise, people can hear from outside and under the annex. It would be a terribly frightening thing to do if that happened. They all probably tried to keep the discovery part out of their heads but they always had to remember to take thier shoes off at certain times of the day so that they would make no noise while there were people working downstairs. It was something that they all had to remember to do everyday or else they probably would have gotten caught. Sometimes I wonder how they thought of each detail or rule that they had to follow and the amount of time for being safe and taking your shoes off. It probably required many long hours of thinking. Anyways it would have been really hard for me if I had to do all that.

Question 5 (#1)

"But always remember this, Anneke. There are no walls, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind." This is a good statement because when Mr. Frank said this, he was saying that even though they were locked up and in hiding in the annex, Anne's mind can stay free from all the locks, blots, and walls. I agree with this statement because even though we are locked up physically our minds can be open and free. We don't have to lock up our minds just because we are locked literally. This was a good statement to tell Anne because it probably was really hard for her to hear that she wasn't allowed to go out of the secret door at any time. After all she isn't one of those quiet and calm girls that listen to every rule but she was a curious and loud girl. So she had to be careful in those situations.