On the anniversary of her birth we reflect on her life and its significance.
92nd anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth
Passport photo series of Anne Frank from 1939
Anne Frank House collection
June 10, 2021 — On Saturday 12 June 2021 it will be 92 years ago that Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main. ‘Annelies Marie, born on 12 June 1929, 7.30 AM, 8¼ pounds, 54 cm’, wrote her mother Edith for Anne in a baby book. In the first photo taken of Anne we see her as a newborn baby, one day old, in her mother’s arms in a hospital bed.
‘My father, the most adorable father I’ve ever seen, didn’t marry my mother until he was thirty-six and she was twenty-five. My sister Margot was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany in 1926. I was born on 12 June 1929.’
Anne was given her diary for her 13th birthday, on 12 June 1942. ‘Maybe one of my nicest presents’, she wrote. Three weeks later, on 6 July, Anne went into hiding with her family in the Secret Annexe, the hidden apartment at the rear of her father’s business premises on the Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam. The Van Pels family joined them on 13 July, and Fritz Pfeffer followed on 16 November. In her hiding place Anne wrote about her life, and celebrated her 14th and 15th birthdays. These were the bright spots during the time spent in hiding, where fear, tension, irritations and boredom prevailed.
Photos
Here and there Anne added photos to her diary letters. For example she cut out photos of herself and her parents from a sheet of passport photos: before going into hiding the Frank family made several series of passport photos in photo booths. And there are the typical family snaps and school photos. The last photos of Anne and Margot were probably taken in May 1942.
#Anne92
On Anne’s birthday we pause and reflect on her life and its significance. What does Anne Frank mean to you? With the hashtag #Anne92 young people can share what Anne means to them on social media. In the Anne Frank House there will be special educational programmes for museum visitors, and they will be given postcards with passport photos of Anne dating from 1939. A special film has also been made from this series of photos.