The Life-giving Power of Kindness

In 1933, the Frank family escaped to the Netherlands to seek asylum from rapidly intensifying German anti-Semitism. Despite Anne Frank’s parents’ attempts to peacefully raise their family in another country, the horrors of war and the Nazi Party followed them. The Franks were trapped in Amsterdam after the German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. By 1942, Jewish persecution forced the Franks into hiding in a secret annex in her father’s Amsterdam office. For over two years, the Frank family lived in this secret chamber with four other refugees. Although the family was later arrested and Anne and her family became victims of the Holocaust, their survival in the secret room was made possible by several people who showed deep kindness to the Franks. These careful friends brought the family food, supplies, and news from the outside world. Their friendship and kindness were lifelines for the Franks, especially Anne, who wrote