Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: The View from Anne Frank’s Window (July 22, 1941)

Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House recently put on YouTube rare footage of Anne Frank leaning out of a window to get a look at a newly married couple in her neighborhood:

And here’s Anne Frank, at a younger age, in a group photo:

Anne Frank is the little girl to the left (in a dress in the front row). Margo Frank, Anne’s older sister, is with the taller kids in the back row, and is wearing a dress similar to her sister’s. Margo is the one on the right. Both Anne and Margo died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in March, 1945. Bergen-Belsen is near Hanover, in northwest Germany.

Here’s an image from Bergen-Belsen (taken in 1945):

 

Source for both photos: U.S. Holocaust Museum Photo Archive

Bergen-Belsen’s consumption of Anne and Margo Frank drives me to ask with Wilfred Owen (in his 1918 poem, “Futility”):

Was it for this the clay grew tall?

—O what made fatuous sunbeams toil

To break earth’s sleep at all?

About Santi Tafarella

I teach writing and literature at Antelope Valley College in California.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

19 Responses to Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: The View from Anne Frank’s Window (July 22, 1941)

  1. Ahmed Ali says:

    Above picture such a nice picture

    We love Hitler.. He was great leader of Germany…. but German ingrate nation……… He did Holocaust very nicely……. I am missing you Hitler The Great……….

    Hitler was a great man and people are mistaken about his greatness. He was a true religious man and wanted only to work for his people and his country. What people believe is only one side of the story in actual fact it was the deceiving plans of his enemies (Jews) which he wanted to counter and finish. What we witness today only shows that what people believe is derived from the media which in consequence is controlled by the Jews. Hence the media propagated “Holocaust” is just another one of the deceive tactics of the Jews. Thank You

    • TN_man says:

      Sounds like the sort of idiotic drivel you would expect from a wannabe jihadist. All mouth and no brains or guts.

    • The truth says:

      The murder of anyone in war is horrible. The horror of losing someone in a camp of death and unjust. Hitler had no right! just because someone exceeds the limit of “okay.” Doesn’t mean you can take your anger and aggression out on them. The inocent children, women, babies, and men. Were all taken there is no right for murder. Not even if they have done any kind of wrong doing. DEATH is certainly not the answer

    • smart guy says:

      Are you crazy? Hitler was the most horrible person in the world. He was mental and you are probably mental also by saying that disgusting thing. He killed 6 million jews because at the time, Germany was having major problems and Germany needed someone to blame so he picked the jews because of history from the past between hitler and jews. You’re an idiot

  2. Ahmed Ali says:

    Above picture such a nice picture

    We love Hitler…….
    We hate Israel………
    We condemn Israeli terrorism on Palestine land
    Israel is actually Palestine Land………..

    • The truth says:

      I say that your opinion is you! but the lives of many don’t need to be taken! What would you say if the Holucaust happened to you! The horror of loved ones being led down a hall way never to be seen agian! THE LIVES OF GOOD OR BAD NEVER DESERVE TO BE TAKEN! Now what hitler has done is wrong and twisted its sick and horrible! That is the truth!

  3. Ahmed Ali says:

    We love Hitler.. He was great leader of Germany…. but German ingrate nation……… He did Holocaust very nicely……. I am missing you Hitler The Great……….

  4. AA says:

    We love Hitler.. He was great leader of Germany…. but German ingrate nation……… He did Holocaust very nicely……. I am missing you Hitler The Great……….

    • Polish man says:

      You’re so stupid. Hitler was a bad guy.
      If there wasn’t Hitler a lot thousand people would live till today but they DID NOT. Hitler wyrzadzil wiele zla, a ludzie którzy zaostali w bestialski sposób zamordowani przez niego już nigdy nie wrócą Ośle.

      • Anonymous says:

        hitler was a awfal dumb guy i dont know y u guys think
        hes a great guy cause he isnt look wat he did to all those poor jews he killed.

    • Hanleu says:

      I dont mean to be rude or mean, but Hitler was very bad, and you shouldnt like him, who would like a guy who enjoyed seeing people suffer and die?

      • The truth says:

        you are certainly right murder either veiwed as just or not. It is never the answer

      • The truth says:

        No one is being rude if they are speaking the truth! Hitler shouldn’t done what he did! But no one should be hated. Still the Holucaust should of never happened anything can change by doing something differently! LIKE A CHAIN REACTION!

    • The truth says:

      AA go to youtube and type in The Legacy for Hope. Hear the stories of the tortured and tormented. Hitler killed families who fine by them self. Imagine being transported in train carts with about 70 people. Then having someone chose life or death. IS THAT FAIR! Tattoed numbers and shaved head a numbered name! Being told your worthless. If you weren’t worth something why were you born. You weren’t someone else you are you! That is why everybody is important. This is coming form someone who knows the truth.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Hitler was awful!! He was not a great person at all. Do you know how many Jews died in the Holocaust?! He was a horrible horrible man!

  6. personal says:

    hitler is alful how can you watch someone die and enjoy it that is prejutice that is not goddly that is the devil would u want to be killed because of your religon man ai hate that guy and imagined what happed to anne frank how can hitler kill millions god put them on this earth and no human has the right to take another humans life out of this earth im muslim and im not jewish but that doesnt mean go around and started killing people because they are not muslim man the devil is working in peoples mind i dont care if your german or dookie you have no right to kill someone we all bleed and we are all human and you are not perfect like how can you even kill children its not the children fault like you are stupid dumb and a horrible person to like hitler what planet did you come from neptune gosh people these days are so heartless how bout who ever like hitler go sit on a toliet and get the freakin DEVIL OR SATIN OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM PEOPLE ARE YOU CRAZIN WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE GET WITH GOD THE CREATER WHO MADE EVERY ONE WE CAME TO THIS WORLD AND ONLY GOD HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE YOU OUT OF THIS WORLD!

  7. tbm1998 says:

    Yes, Hitler was a very awful man. But think, hes a mad genious. Corrupting thousands of peopls minds, teaching them to believe his lies. What happend to all those innocent people is TERRIBLE. If you miss Hitler so much, go drink pison to your death dear. Its your loss. No one should think that man did anything right. He just put Germany in more crisis than ever, forget the money, what about the people? Over 6 million Jews died between those years. INNOCENT PEOPLE. Who wished they could wake up in the morning, and have anice meal, a warm bed, and clothes on their backs. But no, they’d wake up, not get fed for days, basically be a slave, and wear thin clothing which couldn’t warm a freaking rat to save its life. He treated them like they where worthless pieces of crap, even though he was causing more damage than all of them combined could ever do. We had a Holocaust survior come to my school and tell us about all the torture he went through. It broke my heart, to see that man being brave enough to stand infront of 100 children, and tell us his story and tell us if he could ever take it back, he wouldn’t. He said it made him who he is today. A very respectful, intelligent, person who gots somewhere in their life. You could pass a person each day, not knowing what their life was like in the past, you never know. That person could have witnessed what Hitler put those people through. God didn’t put us on this earth to fight, and have greed. Just for us to love, believe, and have peace man. Thats all he intended. If no one in this world had disagreements, or world wouldn’t have come to this. Slowly, but surely, its falling aapart. Thanks to people like Hitler, who want to rule our world. Take over. Killing thousands of people each day.
    And this is coming from a 13-year old. (:

    • Wendy says:

      Hitler was a evil, evil, devil. How in this world can you treat humans the way he did?? I hope he is enjoying burning in hell, because that is exactually where he is….

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s