Write a non-fictional narrative on a courageous Emirate

citizen or culturally relevant hero or heroine.

Ollie Parton 7AB
Could you live in a world where war was happening? Well I was. I am Anne Marie
Frank and I was born in 1929 on June 12th in Frankfurt in Germany. I lived with my
mother, Edith Frank, my father, Otto Frank and my big sister Margot. Before WWII
in 1939, I was just a normal girl, like every other girl my age. I had friends, I had
fun and I went to school. After school that day, I came home and saw my family
had started packing suitcases. I was wondering what was going on. My dad gave
me and my sister Margot our things to take and then we were on our way to
somewhere. We heard the news that the second world war had just broken out.
That’s it, mother and father were taking us into hiding. I tried not to panic as I
worried that all my Jewish friends were going to die or at least be sent to a
concentration camp where they would have to do their best to survive. We
arrived at Uncle Walter’s factory. I was wondering if we were planning to sleep in
the corridor where the Nazis could find us anyway, but then Uncle Walter told us
to push the bookshelf. I was thinking to myself, why are we going to push the
bookshelf but then I heard a creek. I looked at Margot as we kept pushing, she is
three years older than me, so I thought that she understood what was going on.
Suddenly another room was ahead. We all looked in amazement! ‘Uncle Walter’, I
said, you never told us about this room.’ We ran in dreaming about where we
were going to put everything, we called it the secret annex. Uncle Walter told us
that between the hours of eight AM and six PM we must be very quiet and wear
socks so the workers downstairs would not know we were here. The reason mine
and my family’s life changed is because we are Jewish and Adolph Hitler, who was
the German leader back then, despised all Jewish people. He thought we were an
inferior race.

We were in the Annex for a long time and I was wondering if we would ever get
out. I was terribly bored. I started to write a journal and I called it the life of a
young girl. It meant I could keep track of what was happening to me and be able
to share my secrets and worries, a little bit like I used to do with my friends. I got
extremely uncomfortable with mother, father and Margot around, we were all in
each other’s space. Instead of falling out, I could write my frustrations in my diary
and feel better about everything. Our parents were in constant fear of being
caught by the Nazis. This got even worse during the weekly checks around the
factory. Luckily the workers knew nothing due to all of us wearing our socks so we
would be quiet across the thin floor. We hated that if we were caught, we would
be sent to a concentration camp, but Uncle Walter would be also shot and killed
for hiding and helping us. I started to miss my friends. I missed my school. I just
missed the outside world in general. I started to think this was not as much fun as
I had first expected. Most of all, I missed my normal life where we were not being
hunted for our lives because of what we believe. I wanted things to go back to
how they were, back to a time when I could go to school, I could have friends and
even go outside without being in fear of my life. I longed for that day. I believed it
would happen soon, we just needed to be patient.

On one dreadful day, even worse than the other days, mother was cleaning the
floor when she dropped the broom. We heard one of the workers walking up the
stairs and looking for what had made the noise. We all remained very quiet. I held
my breath; every muscle was tense. He eventually went back down. As relief
flooded me, I whispered to mother, ‘mother that was close, don’t be so clumsy’. I
knew she felt bad but it could have been any of us. When, we slept that night,
well when everyone else in the annex slept that night, I was very worried. I heard
two deep German voices from outside. From what I understood, they said ‘break
down that bookshelf’. Uncle Walter was there and begged them not to. He said
that his grandmother had given it to him as a birthday present on his 30 th birthday
and that he loved it. I felt terrible that he was in danger because he chose to help
us. I loved him so much! They didn’t listen. I went to get mother and father up,
but they were already as awake as I was. They were listening too, listening to him
trying to persuade them but they just didn’t listen. They didn’t care about Uncle
Otto’s bookcase or about us! They broke down the bookshelf and found a secret
room with four chairs. I knew it was over! I felt so scared for my life, for the lives
of my family and for the bravest person I knew, Uncle Walter. Tears slid down my
cheeks. All of us heard a gunshot from outside, it was as if we felt it too. We knew
he was going to die. He was going to die for being our friend. Father rapidly
searched for something to help us escape or to try to protect us with. There was
nothing that could help us now!

We were caught and sent to a concertation camp. I knew everything was over, my
hope started to slide away. Concentration camps were the place where we were
sent because the Nazis said that we just weren’t as good as them and that we
were spoiling humanity! I knew in my heart that this was not true, but I felt
ashamed, ashamed of being me. When we arrived, we could already smell how
bad the food was. We were sat next to a Swedish fellow who couldn’t speak
English or German and he already looked as if he were half dead. I felt disgusted
and afraid. We were wrongly tortured every day and given food that had barley
any nutrients. I began to wonder if we would ever get out of this horrific place.
Away from the sloppy mud, the smell and the fences surrounding us. All those
things made life unbearable. I started to feel weaker and weaker. Despair took
over me.

On the 12th of March 1945, Anne Frank died. She died of Typhus which is a very
rare disease and is caused through bacteria. It is believed that she must have got
it after being bitten by a flea. Tragically she died 15 days after. Her life was over,
Anne would never grow to live the life she should have lived. Just a few days later,
the English forces liberated the Concentration Camp where Anne had been. Just a
few more days and she may have survived!

The word ‘holocaust’ means mass murder by the Nazis. Over 6 million Jews were
murdered between 1933 and 1945, simply because they weren’t Germans. Anne
Frank not only survived these horrific circumstances for over two years but
showed hope and determination through her diary entries. Keeping hope, and
never giving up, in the most unimaginably horrible times, is inspirational. Young
adults overcoming difficult times in their lives, can learn from Anne. They can use
her experience and the way she responded to it in such a positive way, to learn
and help them go on. Personally, Anne Frank inspires me with her will to survive
and to try and get through all difficult situations. This has helped me when my life
has challenges, even though these are much smaller than hers. I try to be more
like Anne, to be as brave as she was and to never give up hope that things will get
better. Every time her diary is read, another person could be inspired and shown
how to release their inner hero.

Anne Frank survived in such horrible circumstances and even wrote a diary about
her experiences. This inspired me by proving that even when life isn’t on your
side, no matter what, there is always some hope.