The Diary of a Young Girl ranks amongst the most widely-read books in the world. Written by the teenage Anne Frank between 1942 and 1944 and published posthumously, it is regarded as one of the most compelling and remarkable documents to emerge from the Holocaust era. 2012 marked the 65[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the diary’s publication and this weekend the first digital app of Anne’s work has been released, coinciding with Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January. Anne was born into a liberal German-Jewish family in 1929. The Franks emigrated to Amsterdam following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, to escape the intolerance directed at Jews under the new Nazi regime. When the Netherlands was occupied during World War Two, anti-Semitic persecution intensified and in 1942 the Frank family went into hiding. Along with four other German Jews, the Franks remained hidden in an annexe above Otto Frank’s business premises for twenty-five months, until on 4 August 1944 they were betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo. Deported to Auschwitz and then to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Anne died of typhus sometime in early March 1945. Her father was the only one of the eight Jews who had hidden in the Secret Annexe to survive the Holocaust. When he returned to Amsterdam in July 1945 and learned of his daughters’ deaths, Anne’s diaries were returned to him. Based on Anne’s wishes to be a published author, Otto edited her manuscripts and in 1947 his daughter’s dream became a reality. Her diary has now sold over 30 million copies and has been translated into nearly 70 languages. The new digital edition of the Diary, released as an app for iPad and Nook, is embedded with a wealth of additional material designed to enhance Anne’s text and provide a greater insight into her world. Previously unpublished photos taken by Otto Frank, clips from the Oscar-winning documentary Anne Frank Remembered, an interactive timeline and excerpts read by Helena Bonham Carter are amongst the features it boasts. An innovative and successful combination of app and e-book, the digital edition firmly grounds the diary in its historical context. Buddy Elias, Anne’s cousin and last living relative, has recorded a video introduction to the digital edition of The Diary of a Young Girl and has praised the multimedia content for enabling readers to become closer to Anne’s story. It is a story that the world knows due to this particular teenager’s undeniable talent for expressing herself on paper, but it is also a story that represents the fate of millions of other individuals who lost their lives during the Holocaust. Source: Anne Frank
Oh boy! An "app"! I've been waiting for that all my life! Excuse me my sarcasm... I just don't see the point of these gadgets and their "apps". But your post reminds me that I don't have a copy of Anne Franks diary yet... off to the bookstore! Kind regards, Jos
I, for one, am glad to hear this. Great idea for a great book. The link to the app doesn't work. I'd like to look at it.
