Various editions

For her thirteenth birthday, on 12 June 1942, Anne Frank is given the actual diary, with its red and white check cover, in which she writes on the very same day that she hopes to be able to confide everything to it, and that it will be a great support to her. In the weeks that follow she writes about her birthday, her classmates, the events at the Jewish high school and the few small pleasures which there still were for Jewish children in June 1942. At the beginning of July 1942 her sixteen-year-old sister Margot receives the order to report for labour service in Germany». The Frank family hides in the upper floors of the rear part of the building at Prinsengracht 263. This is the address of Otto Frank's company, which he has meanwhile as a matter of form made over to others. The Van Pels family and the dentist Pfeffer also find refuge there later.

After Anne Frank has kept her diary for a year, she starts to rewrite some of the entries as stories, giving them titles such as «The coveted little table», «The quarrel over the potatoes» and «When the clock strikes half-past eight». She keeps these true stories, together with her imaginary tales, in another booklet, the «Storybook». After the war these short stories are published under the title «Stories and Events from the Secret Annexe».

«. . . will I ever become a journalist or a writer? I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, because writing allows me to record everything, all my thoughts, ideals and fantasies.»
Anne Frank, 5 April 1944

In March 1944 the free radio station Oranje broadcasting from England announces that the Dutch government in exile intends to collect diaries of ordinary citizens after the war in order to write the history of those days.

«Mr. Bolkestein, the Cabinet Minister, speaking on the Dutch broadcast from London, said that after the war a collection would be made of diaries and letters dealing with the war (...) Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a novel about the «Secret Annexe»
Anne Frank, 29 March 1944.

Anne Frank realises that her diary could also perhaps be of interest to other people. She resolves to revise her diary, in order to make a real book out of it.

«You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to be a journalist, and later on, a famous writer. We'll have to wait and see if these grand illusions (or delusions!) will ever come true, but till now I've had no lack of topics. In any case, after the war I'd like to publish a book called «The Secret Annexe». It remains to be seen whether I'll succeed, but my diary can serve as the basis.»
Anne Frank, 11 May 1944

In 10 weeks, from 20 May to 4 August 1944, Anne Frank rewrites a large part of her diary. The early part of the diary in particular is greatly improved. Meanwhile, she continues to write her normal diary. Rewriting is broken off by her arrest on 4 August 1944. Up to that time, Anne Frank has written on 324 loose sheets of paper.
The work is not yet completed when the building at the rear is stormed by the police on 4 August 1944. Anne Frank is taken away by the police, her diary remains behind.

After the arrest of the people hiding in the house on 4 August 1944, the two secretaries in the company, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, remain behind. Together they find Anne's diaries and notes on the floor of the empty house. Miep keeps these in a safe place, hoping for Anne's return. After the war, when she hears that Anne has died, she passes the notebooks and loose sheets to Otto Frank, who has now returned from prison camp.

When it finally became certain that Anne was no longer alive, Otto H. Frank decided to fulfil his dead daughter's wish and to publish her notes as a book. To do so, he compiled an abridged third version c from Anne's two versions, the original version a and the version which she herself had rewritten b. Anne herself had already found the title for her book: «Het Achterhuis». In June 1947 «Het Achterhuis» is published in the Netherlands. The German version «Das Tagebuch» and the French version «Le Journal» followed in 1950. The English version «The Diary» was published in 1952.

Otto Frank died in 1980. He bequeathed his daughter's original notes to the Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (State Institute for War Documentation; Formerly RIOD, now NIOD) in Amsterdam. As the sole heir of Otto Frank, the ANNE FRANK Foundation in Basle has inherited all authors' rights owned by his daughter.

The complete works of Anne Frank are published in 1986 in «The Diaries of Anne Frank», an academic investigation carried out by the Rijksinstituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie (State Institute for War Documentation; Formerly RIOD, now NIOD).


Literature

Anne Frank: The Diary of Anne Frank, Revised Critical Edition. David Barnouw (Editor) Gerrold Van der Stroom (Editor); Doubleday&Company, March 2003; ISBN 0385508476

Anne Frank: Tales from the Secret Annex: Revised Edition. Bantam Books, March 2003; ISBN 0553586386