Teaching Anne Frank's Diary in a College History Course

Introduction: The Diary as a College-Level Primary Source

The main points of an Anne Frank unit in a college-level history course will differ considerably from those of a middle school or high school course. Likewise, the parameters of the history discipline shape the approach to The Diary of a Young Girl, which might be treated from a literary point of view in an English class. At the college level, the instructor has the opportunity to explore several aspects of Anne Frank's diary in depth. Discussions can be provocative and challenging, encouraging students to voice concerns, opinions, and perspectives. The instructor can also synthesize The Diary of a Young Girl with similar first-hand testimonies from the Holocaust.

History professors might opt to treat The Diary of a Young Girl in the broader context of social oppression or, more specifically, of Jewish history in Europe. It is this last perspective that would serve as the focus for this unit. The Diary of a Young Girl can and should be viewed as one among many historiographies that illuminate the nature of oppression and social control. In this light, Anne Frank's diary can be presented and analyzed alongside slave narratives and similar documentary evidence. Doing so would offer poignant insight into how oppressed groups of people (a) survived physically; (b) survived socially, maintaining cohesion and traditions; and (c) how that experience impacted individuals such as Anne Frank.

Historical Background: Anti-Semitism Before the Holocaust

The first main point of this proposed college-level history unit would provide background information about Jewish history and anti-Semitism. Rather than beginning with Nazism, the unit should start with the anti-Semitism that had been brewing throughout Europe long before Hitler rose to power. Anti-Semitism was evident in literature—including Shakespeare—but was most visible in the ghettos and other institutionalized forms of social oppression and segregation. Historical documentation of anti-Semitism across the centuries enhances the content of Anne Frank's diary and provides essential context for her story.

A unit centered on Anne Frank can also include supplementary materials that help illuminate the author's story, her sense of personal identity as a Jew, and the long history of anti-Semitism in Europe. Where possible, the instructor should access multimedia materials demonstrating that anti-Semitism was normative even before the Nazis came to power—except in relatively socially liberal areas such as Amsterdam. This historical grounding prevents students from treating the Holocaust as an aberration rather than the culmination of centuries of persecution.

Identity Formation Under Oppression

The second focus of the unit is Anne Frank's personal identity formation and how her identity connects to the collective identity of the Jewish people. Identity is a major theme of the diary, especially as it relates to Frank's growing understanding of persecution and human cruelty, but also as it relates to national identity—or the absence of it. Incorporating some psychology into the unit is particularly valuable given that the central text is an autobiography.

Frank's identity was formed in isolation, which is a crucial element in the theme of oppression. Students can explore the effect that physical isolation had on Anne and her family. Motifs of confinement and darkness recur throughout the narrative. Yet even those physical struggles do not capture the full horror of what Anne and her family endured afterward in the Nazi death camps.

The Frank family's experience in hiding closely resembles imprisonment, and an examination of how environmental factors shape identity formation offers rich ground for discussion. Parallels can be drawn with slave narratives. Students can also explore the evolution of Jewish identity in particular, noting the relative absence of explicit religiosity in Frank's writing; she is far more preoccupied with Jewish cultural identity than with religious practice. Jewish identity has always reflected prevailing social and political climates, and Anne Frank's diary records the moment when she comes to understand that she is a member of a systematically oppressed social group. Students should examine how Jewish solidarity functioned—how the oppressed group clung to its traditions and why those traditions were so vital to collective survival.

Jewish history and cultural identity are inextricably linked with the Old Testament story of the Exodus, which is a recurring motif in Jewish writings and in the lived experience of the Jewish people. Systematic persecution, and ultimately the Holocaust, epitomize the historic Jewish struggle for survival. Students can research how Jewish identities and self-concepts have changed since the Holocaust, across Europe, North America, and Israel. How have Jewish people managed to retain solidarity in spite of systematic persecution? What tools does Anne Frank use in the diary, and what do those tools reveal about the human capacity for resilience in the face of extreme suffering?

Conclusion: A Multidisciplinary Approach to History

Comparing the experience of oppression, persecution, and torture of the Jews with the experience of oppression by other groups of people would offer the richest opportunities for students of history. History is about synthesis, analysis, and finding patterns among world cultures and across different periods of time. A multidisciplinary approach that incorporates elements of personal psychology and sociology enriches classroom discussions and helps students see the discipline of history as interconnected rather than isolated.

Although The Diary of a Young Girl is most often associated with grade-school history and literature, the text can be treated as an important primary source document in higher education. Rather than treating the diary as a stand-alone source, the preferred approach is to use it as one of many artifacts that lend insight into (a) anti-Semitism in European history, (b) anti-Semitism outside of Europe, (c) Jewish history broadly, and (d) the resilience of the human spirit under conditions of torture and persecution. The diary of Anne Frank offers too many opportunities for rich and varied historical discussion to be confined to introductory survey courses. At the same time, it provides a singular, intimate account of the Holocaust—one that must be supplemented with other survivor testimonies to ensure students engage with the full, unvarnished historical reality.