Monday, August 31, 2015

I've been away from my blog for a LONG time!  This topic is so important to me, I hesitate and feel overwhelmed whenever I think about coming here to write.  I've decided I just need to do it - "Do it Afraid".  Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's pushing through the fear. . . so here I go.

Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929.  She lived in Frankfurt Am Main for the first three years of her life (house in photos).

The house is a three-story, off-white, stucco house with shutters.  There's a gate surrounding it.  The yard is well-kept with a small garden in the back.  Two huge trees are in the front yard.  One of them looks like a cherry tree.  They would have been here when Anne lived here.  The home is in a quiet charming part of the city.

Anne lived in the home with Otto (her father), Edith (her mother), and Margo (here sister).  In 1933 Adolf Hitler was elected into power.  Germany became a dictatorship.  Otto Frank "saw the writing on the wall" and knew this was not a good thing for their family.

. . . how sad.  The Frank family, and especially Otto, saw themselves first as German and secondly as Jewish.  Otto Frank had served faithfully in World War 1.  He deeply loved his country.

Germany's economic crisis helped bring Hitler's NADSP into power.  With Hitler as the leader of the German government, Otto and Edith are deeply worried.  They begin looking for a means of escape.