Anne Frank's Diary: An Analytical Perspective

Why is Anne Frank's Story and Diary important to World History?

In essence, Ann Frank’s Diary could be seen as an amazingly vivid Holocaust-period life account. Through the dairy, we see the world through the eyes of an innocent girl. It offers a description of the difficult times those who hid in the annexe experienced, including Anne and her family. The diary permits us to personalize an important period in the history of the world and assess the horrors of persecution at a more intimate level. It gives us a different perspective of dark period where human rights and equality were routinely trampled upon. Also, it indicates that throughout history, there are some who never lost hope in a better society, regardless of the level of exposure to barbarity. There is clear demonstration to the effect that despite immense conflict, there are always sober minds that remain uninfected by ideological differences.

Why does the New Yorker article tell us about the power of history or the "misuse" of history?

As the New Yorker article by Cynthia Ozick points from the onset, Anne’s words have been twisted, distorted, and deformed by her most ardent supporters. As a matter of fact, according to the article “almost every hand that has approached the diary with the well-meaning intention of publicizing it has contributed to the subversion of history.” Ozick is of the opinion that with the end missing, Anne’s story cannot be regarded as being wholly hers. Towards this end, it is largely impure. This effectively means that the entire story is a speculation and in that regard, it effectively tampers with not only truth, but also reality and ultimately, history. In the final analysis, “Anne Frank’s written narrative, moreover, is not the story of Anne Frank, and never has been.”