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The Conversation
The Conversation
Jan Lanicek, Associate Professor in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW Sydney

Friday essay: who was Anne Frank?

Anne Frank in December 1941. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Everyone knows her photo. For some it shows the cheeky smile of a young girl, “Miss Quack Quack”. For others, the image represents an enigmatic veil of mystery, similar to Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Millions have read her diary, watched various renditions in theatres and on the screen, or visited exhibitions devoted to her story. Thousands queue in front of the house in Amsterdam, where she spent 760 days in the secret annex, hiding from the Gestapo and their Dutch collaborators.

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