ENGLISH FIRST LANGUAGE PROSE:
- THE GIRL WHO WAS ANNE FRANK
- THE GIRL WHO WAS ANNE FRANK
LOUIS DE JONG
I. About the Author
JONG, LOUIS (Loe) DE (1914–2005), Dutch historian. Born in Amsterdam into a secular socialist family, De Jong studied history in Amsterdam and started his career in 1938 as foreign editor of the anti- Nazi weekly De Groene Amsterdammer. Upon the German invasion in May 1940 De Jong and his wife managed to flee the European mainland, leaving behind his parents, sister, and twin brother – none of whom survived the war. De Jong spent the war years in London, working for Radio Oranje, the voice of the Dutch government-in-exile. He also wrote four volumes on the events in the occupied Netherlands. In September 1945 De Jong was appointed head of the Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation, which had been founded in Amsterdam immediately after the liberation. In 1953 he earned his doctorate with a study of the German fifth column. In 1955 he was commissioned by the government to write the history of the Netherlands in World War II. Between 1969 and 1991 Het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog ("The Kingdom of the Netherlands in World War II") was published in 14 volumes. Aside from his position as head of the RIOD, De Jong also gained recognition and respect in television appearances. He worked as a commentator on international current affairs and from 1960 to 1965 presented a series on the Netherlands during World War II. He always remained an assimilated, secular Jew. During the Six-Day War (1967), however, he identified with the Israeli cause. De Jong became more and more a conscious Dutch Jew rather than a Dutchman of Jewish descent.
I. Question and Answers
1. Why does the professor say, "I have read Anne Frank's diary"?
Ans: - The professor said that he had read Anne Frank's diary when an argumentative young student asked him how he knew that the human race was worth saving.
2. What does his statement imply?
Ans: - His statement implies that every human race was worth saving as all races were precious.
3. What was Anne's father?
Ans: - Anne's father, Otto Frank was a banker, living in Germany.
4. Give any one example to prove the popularity of Anne Frank's Diary.
Ans: - Once Anne Frank's diary was published by her father, numerous people sent small presents, some exquisite dolls were made for him by Japanese girls. On the birthdays of Anne and Margot flowers arrived anonymously.
5. a) Name the members of Mr. Otto Frank's family
Ans: - The family members of Mr.Otto Frank were his wife, Mrs. Frank, and his two daughters, Margot and Anne. His mother was alive but she had emigrated to Switzerland long before.
b) What impression did people have about Anne?
Ans: - Most people had the impression that Margot, Anne's elder sister was more promising and Anne was not particularly a brilliant student.
6. Why did Otto Frank decide to migrate to Netherlands? Give two reasons.
Ans: - Otto Frank decided to migrate to Netherlands in the autumn of 1933, because Hitler began issuing anti- Jewish decrees one after another, and because Netherlands was hospitable enough for him to start a small firm.
7. Who was Mr. Van Daan?
Ans: - Mr. Van Daan was a fellow refugee whom Otto Frank took in as a partner of his firm.
8. What qualities of Mr. Frank did his staff admire?
Ans: - Mr. Frank's staff admired him for his warm personality. They admired his courage and the evident care he took to give his two girls a good education.
9. Paragraph 7 refers to a lucky fact. What was that lucky fact?
Ans: - The lucky fact was that the Franks lived in a town surrounded by friends and the girls led a happy life. This was lucky because the Frank family could only rarely afford a holiday and they did not even own a car.
10. What finally forced Frank to go into hiding?
Ans: - Early in July 1942, Margot Frank was called up for deportation but she did not go. This forced Frank to go into hiding.
11. Where did Otto Frank and others hide themselves in?
Ans: - Otto Frank prepared to hide in his own business office with his family members. So he secretly prepared a few derelict rooms on the upper floors called the 'Annexe'. His family and their friends the Van Daan family along with a Jewish dentist hid there.
12. In all, how many people managed to hide in the Annexe? Who were they?
Ans: - In all, eight people hid in the Annexe. They were Mr. Otto Frank, his wife, and his two daughters, the three members of the Van Daan family and a Jewish dentist.
13. What helped the hiding party to establish contact with the outside world?
Ans: - The hiding party had the link with the outside world only by the radio and the four courageous staff members of Otto Frank, two of whom were typists who brought them food, magazines, and books secretly.
14. What did Anne Frank record in her diary?
Ans: - Anne Frank recorded her life in the Annexe with all its inevitable tensions and quarrels. She created a wonderful and delicate record of adolescence with complete honesty of a young girl' thoughts and feelings.
15. How did Anne compare herself to a song-bird?
Ans: - Anne compared herself to a songbird whose wings have been brutally torn out and who is flying in utter darkness against the bars of its own cage.
16. What does Anne reveal about her mother in the diary?
Ans: - Anne reveals her grief because she feels that her mother does not understand her. These thoughts are penned in her diary.
17. How does Anne try to keep the diary a secret?
Ans: - Anne wanted to keep the diary a secret from everyone, so she used to hide them in her father's brief-case.
18. Pick out from paragraph 16 two examples of the inhuman treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.
14. What did Anne Frank record in her diary?
Ans: - Anne Frank recorded her life in the Annexe with all its inevitable tensions and quarrels. She created a wonderful and delicate record of adolescence with complete honesty of a young girl' thoughts and feelings.
15. How did Anne compare herself to a song-bird?
Ans: - Anne compared herself to a songbird whose wings have been brutally torn out and who is flying in utter darkness against the bars of its own cage.
16. What does Anne reveal about her mother in the diary?
Ans: - Anne reveals her grief because she feels that her mother does not understand her. These thoughts are penned in her diary.
17. How does Anne try to keep the diary a secret?
Ans: - Anne wanted to keep the diary a secret from everyone, so she used to hide them in her father's brief-case.
18. Pick out from paragraph 16 two examples of the inhuman treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.
Ans: - The Jews were carried in cattle-trucks to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in Southern Poland. The men and women were placed in separate camps and tortured so much that most of them died of exhaustion.
19. Why does the writer call Anne a courageous leader?
Ans: - The writer calls Anne a courageous leader because when there was nothing to eat, she used to boldly go to the kitchen at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp to ask for food. She used to advise her sister and others to never give in.
20. Paragraph 18 gives a vivid picture of Anne's last day in the concentration camp. Pick out all the details of her pathetic physical state.
Ans: - Anne and her sister were transported to Belsen, another camp between Berlina and Hamburg. She was old, hungry, her head shaved and her almost skeleton body dressed in the course, shapeless, striped garb of the Concentration Camp. She was pitifully weak, her body racked by typhoid fever.
21. When and where did Miep find Anne's diary?
Ans: - Miep found Anne's diary when she returned to Annexe, a week after the Frank family had been arrested.
22. The writer says that if Miep had read Anne's diary, she would have destroyed it. Why does the writer think so?
Ans: - Anne had written in a detailed manner about the help given by Miep and other people to her family at the risk of their own lives. If Miep had read the diary, she would have destroyed it for reasons of safety.
23. Why does Mr. Frank take many weeks to finish reading the diary?
Ans: - It took Mr. Frank many weeks to finish reading the diary as he used to break down after every few pages overcome by emotion and pain.
24. What became the mission of Mr. Frank's life?
Ans: - The care of his daughter's diary became the passion and mission of Mr. Frank's life.
25. How did Mr. Frank spend the money he got from the publishers?
Ans: - Mr. Frank spent all the money he got from the publishers as royalties on humanitarian causes which, he felt, would have been approved by Anne.
26. How did the German audiences respond, to the tragic play of Anne Frank?
Ans: - The German audiences responded to the tragic play of Anne Frank in silent remorse. People did not even go out during the interval and sat in their seats as if afraid of the lights outside and ashamed of facing each other.
27. How did "The Diary of Anne Frank" succeed where German administrators had failed?
Ans: - The post-war administrators had toiled for years to make people realize the senseless and criminal nature of the Nazi regime, but they had failed. The Diary of Anne Frank succeeded in doing what the administrators had failed to do.
28. Why did the people of Berlin choose her name for Anne Frank Home?
Ans: - The people of Berlin chose her name for Anne Frank home because she symbolized the spirit of racial and social tolerance.
19. Why does the writer call Anne a courageous leader?
Ans: - The writer calls Anne a courageous leader because when there was nothing to eat, she used to boldly go to the kitchen at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp to ask for food. She used to advise her sister and others to never give in.
20. Paragraph 18 gives a vivid picture of Anne's last day in the concentration camp. Pick out all the details of her pathetic physical state.
Ans: - Anne and her sister were transported to Belsen, another camp between Berlina and Hamburg. She was old, hungry, her head shaved and her almost skeleton body dressed in the course, shapeless, striped garb of the Concentration Camp. She was pitifully weak, her body racked by typhoid fever.
21. When and where did Miep find Anne's diary?
Ans: - Miep found Anne's diary when she returned to Annexe, a week after the Frank family had been arrested.
22. The writer says that if Miep had read Anne's diary, she would have destroyed it. Why does the writer think so?
Ans: - Anne had written in a detailed manner about the help given by Miep and other people to her family at the risk of their own lives. If Miep had read the diary, she would have destroyed it for reasons of safety.
23. Why does Mr. Frank take many weeks to finish reading the diary?
Ans: - It took Mr. Frank many weeks to finish reading the diary as he used to break down after every few pages overcome by emotion and pain.
24. What became the mission of Mr. Frank's life?
Ans: - The care of his daughter's diary became the passion and mission of Mr. Frank's life.
25. How did Mr. Frank spend the money he got from the publishers?
Ans: - Mr. Frank spent all the money he got from the publishers as royalties on humanitarian causes which, he felt, would have been approved by Anne.
26. How did the German audiences respond, to the tragic play of Anne Frank?
Ans: - The German audiences responded to the tragic play of Anne Frank in silent remorse. People did not even go out during the interval and sat in their seats as if afraid of the lights outside and ashamed of facing each other.
27. How did "The Diary of Anne Frank" succeed where German administrators had failed?
Ans: - The post-war administrators had toiled for years to make people realize the senseless and criminal nature of the Nazi regime, but they had failed. The Diary of Anne Frank succeeded in doing what the administrators had failed to do.
28. Why did the people of Berlin choose her name for Anne Frank Home?
Ans: - The people of Berlin chose her name for Anne Frank home because she symbolized the spirit of racial and social tolerance.
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