After The Diaries
YOU South Africa|3 October 2019
For over two years they hid from the Nazis in a secret annexe in Amsterdam. But on 4 August 1944 Anne Frank and her family were betrayed, arrested by the Gestapo and despatched to concentration camps. Anne’s poignant diaries stopped on that tragic day but now leading historian Jonathan Mayo has pieced together a nerve-shredding account of what happened.
After The Diaries

OTTO and Edith Frank and their daughters, Margot and Anne, fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and settled in the Netherlands. But by mid-1942 life for Dutch Jews was increasingly harsh. They were forced to wear yellow stars and forbidden to run a business, travel on trams, sit on a park bench or even ride a bicycle.

So that July, after 16-year-old Margot received a call-up to work in a German labour camp, the family went into hiding in the upper storeys of Otto Frank’s former business premises in Amsterdam.

They were joined by another family, Auguste and Hermann van Pels with their son, Peter, and a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer. By August 1944, having spent more than two years in hiding, they were daring to hope that the city would soon be liberated.

“I have the feeling that friends are approaching,” Anne wrote in her diary.

But the families were far from safe.

FRIDAY, 4 AUGUST 1944 6.45AM

It’s a misty morning in Amsterdam. On the second floor of the secret annexe at 263 Prinsengracht, 15-year-old Anne is asleep in a bed so small there are chairs at the end to make it longer for her. It’s her 761st day in hiding.

On the walls of the bedroom are pictures she’s cut out from magazines of the British princesses Elizabeth and Margaret and film stars Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers. Anne shares the room with 55-year-old Fritz Pfeffer, who’s also fast asleep.

In the room above them, Auguste van Pels’ loud alarm clock goes off and Anne waits for the creak of a floorboard as Auguste’s husband, Hermann, makes his way downstairs to the bathroom. There’s a strict daily timetable for washing and dressing.

Next door to Anne in a briefcase in her parents’ bedroom is her most precious possession – her diary, which she started just a few weeks before they went into hiding.

Esta historia es de la edición 3 October 2019 de YOU South Africa.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición 3 October 2019 de YOU South Africa.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE YOU SOUTH AFRICAVer todo
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
YOU South Africa

HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST

With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs

time-read
5 minutos  |
5 December 2024
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
YOU South Africa

SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES

John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love

time-read
5 minutos  |
5 December 2024
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
YOU South Africa

SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG

A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them

time-read
4 minutos  |
5 December 2024
LIAM LAID TO REST
YOU South Africa

LIAM LAID TO REST

More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.

time-read
1 min  |
5 December 2024
SHILOH HANGS OUT
YOU South Africa

SHILOH HANGS OUT

THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.

time-read
1 min  |
5 December 2024
LEO IN LOVE
YOU South Africa

LEO IN LOVE

He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down

time-read
3 minutos  |
5 December 2024
PACKING A PUNCH
YOU South Africa

PACKING A PUNCH

Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it

time-read
4 minutos  |
5 December 2024
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
YOU South Africa

I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD

As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome

time-read
5 minutos  |
5 December 2024
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
YOU South Africa

'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'

A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars

time-read
4 minutos  |
5 December 2024
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
YOU South Africa

THE CLAWS ARE OUT!

Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William

time-read
7 minutos  |
5 December 2024