Annelies Marie Frank was Jewish and born on the 12th of June 1929, in Germany. In 1933, when she was four years old, Hitler took the reins of government in Germany and started the suppresion and persecution of the Jewish people. Like other German-Jewish refugees, her family moved to the Netherlands to avert the persecution in Nazi Germany. However, World War II broke out and Germany occupied the Netherlands. The situation for the Jewish people there quickly deteriorated. The occupational German government in the Netherlands established a law to liquidate all Jews living in occupied territories. To avoid death, Anne and her family had to hide out for two years. However, they were finally detected and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the sixth of January 1945, her mother passed away at the Auschwitz camp, and in March 1945, her older sister, Margot, also died from a typhus epidemic at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. At sixteen, Anne, who was dejected by the death of her family, also died of typhus.

In the early morning of August 4th, 1944, a Nazi police car stopped at 263 Prissen Street in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. An informant had revealed the location of two Jewish families, Otto Frank and Van Dan, who were hiding out there. Both families were taken to concentration camps.

Mrs. Miff Hiss, who worked for Anne's father, visited the hiding place and discovered Anne's diary. The diary was given to Anne from her father, Otto Frank, on June 12, 1942 for her thirteenth birthday. She wrote down every incident while hiding out for two years (June 1942 - August 1944). She expressed various aspects of her life, such as scenes of the Jewish people, criticisim of adults, her relatively good attitude to live in harsh situations, and the hope of freedom. Her writing have been praised as works far beyond her age.

In addition, Anne, who always wanted to be a famous author, composed a couple fairy-tales, short fictions, and essays. Her diary and all other compostions were preserved by Mrs. Hiss and delivered to her farther after the surrender of Germany. They were first published in Duthc in 1947 as "The Diary of Anne Frank". Since then it has been translated into many other languages and read world-wide. It is still well received as a symbol of protecting hope from violence and threats.

This book includes an audio CD. We have the honour to introduce this diary to you.