Anne Frank was born in Germany in the year of 1929 to her mother Edith and her father Otto Frank. In 1933, her father, Otto Frank managed to set up business in Amsterdam. So they left Germany to go with him. A year later Anne began kindergarten at Montessori kindergarten. He father later stated “It was good for Anne to attend a Montessori school, where every pupil is treated as an individual”.

To stay hidden from Hitler’s vicious rule and evil ways, the Frank family and others, hid in a special part of their house called the Secret Annex.

Miep Gies was a lady who was concerned of the Franks needs and hid them in an area of an apartment called the secret annex. She was a Dutch citizen who was sent to live in The Netherlands by her parents, because she could recover from tuberculosis and malnutrition. She enjoyed The Netherlands so much that she later moved there.

“But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.” ― Miep Gies

This picture makes us sad because of the looks on their faces.

BEFORE men loosed these iron gods of strife, Before the stars were from the darkness hurled,I loved you in a flower-lit wonder-world,I loved you, and through you I loved all life;Then fell this dolorous night, unnatural, rifeWith crimes unnumbered and black flag unfurled:I lost you while the writhing phantoms curled About each dream and slew each with a knife.O when the day breaks and the shadows flee,When life moves out of this red masque of death,And all my soul breaks through her prison bars—Then, my lost love, will you return to me,Or will you sleep, all innocent of breath,Beneath a canopy of alien stars?-Claude Houghton

This poem makes me feel an unexplainable variety of emotions. It is very well-worded and descriptive and adds to the sadness and seriousness of this poem. It provoked haunting images in my mind of the tragedy referred to as the Holocaust.But, it has its moments of sweetness like the my favorite line “I loved you in a flower-lit wonder-world.” My overall reaction was sadness and gloom.

Shema  Primo Levi

 You who live secureIn your warm houses,Who return at evening to findHot food and friendly faces:Consider whether this is a man,Who labors in the mudWho knows no peaceWho fights for a crust of breadWho dies at a yes or a no.Consider whether this is a woman,Without hair or nameWith no more strength to rememberEyes empty and coldAs a frog in winter.Consider that this has been:I commend these words to you.Engrave them on your heartsWhen you are in your house, when you walk on your way,When you go to bed, when you rise.Repeat them to your children.Or may your house crumble,Disease render you powerless,Your offspring avert their faces from you.  

This poem caught my attention by showing to not take life for granted. Many people now-a-days believe that their lives are horrible and awful, when in reality they are living a fine and worthy life. It presented an image of the holocaust and how awful it was. Then it made me think of all the great sustainable living conditions all of us are living. “I commend these words to you. Engrave them on your hearts.” That verse stood out tome due to the lack of appreciation people have on their lives. If they only noticed that people had had it way worst and came to realization that their lives aren’t worthless, because others had it way worse. The overall mood is sorrow filled, because the holocaust was truly a tragic time.   

Genocide: the extermination of a nation, race, political, or cultural group.There are many different examples of genocide. Some other genocides in history is when the Europeans arrived to America. They wanted to get rid of the Native Americans due to the lack of space on the European’s ‘new found land.’ They wanted to collect all the natural resources that they could find and all the Native Americans who could have helped them find the resources were killed. Millions of Native Americans died and many tries and customs have been lost forever.Another example of genocide is the Armenian Genocide. While everyone was so distracted in 1915 due to WWI, the Ottoman Empire began capturing the Armenians. They murdered healthy men and forced the people to go on death journeys through the Syrian Desert. There were about two dozen concentration camps that poisoned and gassed the innocent people. Between 600,000 and 1.8 million Armenians died in that horrible time.

 

"Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam - the official Anne Frank House website." Anne Frank. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/>. 

"Creative Commons." Holocaust. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. <http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=concentration+camps>."Holocaust Remembrance." Holocaust Remembrance. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. <http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/btt/holocaust/flash/index.html>."Miep Gies        >          Quotes." Miep Gies Quotes  (Author of Anne Frank Remembered). N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3724.Miep_Gies>.

"Miep Gies." Anne Frank. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Frank/All-people/Miep-Gies/>.

"[Commonplace book], [1620s?]." Creative Commons. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/brbl/3119261848/in/photolist-5KD2aY-5KD2Qh-5KD2SG-5MW23a-5Sqz9E-5XfwXE-5ZdpsF-62Yv2h-68Ford-6cUHDv-6giUTW-6jFhX5-6p5u45-6sNFwR-6C2f6o-6C2fpo-6C2fEC-6PF8uW-74e9au-7eyDmT-7ic73Y-7jeph8-7vWyuY-7vWyRo-7vWBwJ-azPfpV-daxkfQ-bJw7De-b>.

"old_paper." Creative Commons. Yahoo!, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/46173808@N08/4327425032/in/photolist-7ApbGq-9eUjCW-9eUmro-7We7TA-9f8s5y-emvfeK-8efJXs-9v1ogx-8sNzF2-akX5CX-aQRWeK-8GXGfb-f3991s-dgqdku-dVmhEC-hHrXQu-eahcxZ-eahcqx-eanRu7-eahbZP-eanRFj-8jD4kV-8jGoPf-8jGibJ-9zcvUK-7XBJCt-7XEZ85->.