By A (Longtime) California Reader
Mon, Sep 6, 2021 4:38 p.m.
Re: Anne Frank Has been Posthumously Forced into an Arranged, Political Marriage . . .
Dear Mr. Stix,
I was disturbed by several things in your Sept. 6 piece concerning Anne Frank, aside from anything about Emmett Till. You wrote
“There is a certain perverse symmetry at work here. Anne Frank and Emmett Till are people—one banal, one vicious—who have been turned into historical figures for purely propagandistic purposes.
“I’ve never been able to read more than a few pages at a time of Frank’s 'Diary,' which was doctored by her father, Otto, after the Nazis murdered her. And it took me three days to make it through the picture, watching about an hour at a time.
“Anne Frank never wrote the pull quote that ends her Diary, and which is said twice in the movie—'I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.'”
1) Why the smear quotes around the word “Diary”? You question its authenticity, but this matter has been exhaustively researched over the years, so to claim as you do that Otto Frank wrote portions of Anne’s diary is nonsense. Sure, he edited it and understandably cut out material that would have been embarrassing at the time (e.g., Anne’s discussion of her sexual development and her criticism of her mother Edith Frank). Otto also combined material from Anne’s two manuscript versions, but recall that she herself was revising her diary entries for future publication.
2) As for the 1955 play and 1959 film, they have always had their critics, most notably Meyer Levin, who accused playwrights Goodrich and Hackett of sentimental falsification and de-judaizing the story, with the aim of making the work more “universal” to appeal to American audiences. Agreed it’s not a great play or film, but don’t use this as a club to beat poor Anne or her father.
3) You claim that the sentence “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart” doesn’t exist in the diary. Well, here it is:
http://www.rhetorik.ch/Aktuell/16/02_13/frank_diary.pdf
From the diary entry July 15, 1944:
"Anyone who claims that the older folks have a more difficult time in the Annex doesn't realize that the problems have a far greater impact on us. We're much too young to deal with these problems, but they keep thrusting themselves on us until, finally, we're forced to think up a solution, though most of the time our solutions crumble when faced with the facts. It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart [emphasis added]. It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!
This was the third from the last diary entry; Anne and her family were arrested August 4, 1944.
4. Do you really find the diary so repulsive that you can only bear to read it a few pages at a time, as you claim? This was not my experience, or that of most other readers. What about it disgusts you? Is it possible that you farmed out this column to Mark Weber or Andrew Anglin as ghostwriters?
Sincerely yours,
[Deleted]
P.S.: By the way, my Jewish great-aunt Rifki and her husband Zuska, a baker, lived in Vilna. During the German occupation of that city in World War II they were kept hidden in safety by gentile neighbors, a situation not unlike that of Anne Frank’s family. When the war was declared to be over, the couple finally went outdoors to enjoy a walk for the first time in years--and were promptly shot to death in the street that day by marauders of some sort. I have never found out what became of their two daughters
[N.S.: I'm sorry to hear that. Was Vilna in Lithuania in those days, or Poland?]
Dear California Reader,
Thank you for writing.
Somewhere, I read that Otto Frank had piped that quote. I have no idea who had written that, but I guess my source got it wrong.
I never said I found the Diary "repulsive" or "disgusting." I just was unimpressed. I am now forcing myself to read it straight through, and will respond again, when I am done. However, please do not expect some sort of metamorphosis.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Stix
