The Diary of a Young Girl

Archival Summary & Scope

This definitive, updated edition of Anne Frank's diary is hailed as "the single most compelling personal account of the Holocaust" (The New York Times Book Review). A world classic and powerful testament to the human spirit, it chronicles the two years 13-year-old Jewish girl Anne Frank and her family spent hiding from Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, beginning in 1942. Her diary vividly details their cloistered existence—facing hunger, boredom, and the constant threat of discovery—until their betrayal. Thoughtful, moving, and often amusing, Anne's words offer a poignant self-portrait of a sensitive, spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short, providing a timeless commentary on human courage and frailty.