Who Was Anne Frank 安妮·弗兰克 Chapter 3 Another World War

After Hitler invaded 1 Poland in September of 1939, England and France declared war. This was the start of World War II. Italy sided with Germany. For the time being, the United States—an ocean away—stayed out of the conflict.

As for the little country of the Netherlands, it remained neutral 2. That meant it did not take sides. The Dutch hoped that this would keep Hitler’s army away.

At night over coffee and cake, the Franks 3 and other Jewish 4 families in Amsterdam talked about the war. Their dream was that Hitler would be defeated. Then they could all return to Germany. On the radio, they listened to the latest news. But they never discussed their fears about the future in front of the children.

The Franks went about their daily lives. They took family trips. One summer vacation was spent at a seaside town in Belgium. One spring they toured the canals of the Netherlands in a houseboat.

The first months of 1940 were bitterly cold. Anne did not mind. The canals remained frozen 5 for much longer than usual. She and her friends spent many hours ice-skating. She was ten and a half now and longed for real figure skates. That way she could do jumps and other tricks on the ice. All she had were Margot’s old skates. They were just blades 6 that attached to Anne’s shoes with a key.

Her parents had no time to think about ice skates. They were worried about an attack on the Netherlands. There were many warnings about the Germans invading 7. But time and again, the warnings proved to be false alarms.

Late that spring the weather turned warm and sunny. And suddenly everyone’s worst fear came true. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded. Hitler had only been waiting for warmer weather to send in his planes. The morning of the attack, bombs dropped from the sky. Amsterdam shook as if there had been an earthquake.

Two days later more bombs fell on Amsterdam. The airport was on fire. So was the harbor 8. But Amsterdam was lucky. Another city, Rotterdam, had been destroyed. Thousands of people died.

The queen of the Netherlands managed to escape to England. That was where she remained until the war was over. She stayed in touch with her people through radio broadcasts. The queen told everyone to stay calm. But there was no telephone service. There were no buses or trains running. People began to panic. Scared of running out of food, they bought out grocery stores. Soon shelves were empty. Air-raid alarms warning of more bombs sounded throughout the day. The people of the Netherlands were prisoners in their own country.

Some Jews in the Netherlands tried to leave the country by ferry. But very few people got out.

The Franks did not even try to escape. They had no car. And Anne’s grandmother was old and very sick. She could not travel.

Anne’s parents had fled to Amsterdam to escape the Germans. But now the Germans had come to Amsterdam. There was no place for Anne’s family to run. The only other choice was to hide.

RESISTANCE 9

BANDS OF JEWISH FIGHTERS DID WHAT THEY COULD TO STOP THE NAZIS 10. THESE UNDERGROUND FIGHTERS WERE CALLED RESISTANCE FIGHTERS. OFTEN THEY WERE HELPED BY NON-JEWS.

THE MOST FAMOUS UPRISING WAS In WARSAW, POLAND. DURING WORLD WAR II, JEWISH PEOPLE In MANY CITIES WERE FORCED TO LIVE IN SEPARATE nEIGHBORHOODS CALLED GHETTOS. THE LARGEST GHETTO 11 WAS In WARSAW.

BY 1943, THE JEWS In THE WARSAW GHETTO REALIZED THAT BEING SENT TO A CONCENTRATION 12 CAMP WAS A DEATH SENTENCE. THEY ALSO KNEW THAT THERE WAS NO HOPE OF DEFEATING THE NAZIS. THEY HAD HARDLY ANY WEAPONS, AND THEY WERE TRAPPED INSIDE THE GHETTO. YET THEY CHOSE TO FIGHT ANYWAY. AND THEY MANAGED TO HOLD OUT AGAINST THE ENEMY FOR ALMOST A MONTH. OF THE SIXTY THOUSAND PEOPLE LIVING THERE, SEVEN THOUSAND DIED In THE UPRISING. OF THOSE WHO REMAINED, FIFTY THOUSAND WERE CAPTURED 13 AND SENT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS.

TODAY THERE ARE MEMORIALS TO THE HEROES OF THE WARSAW GHETTO In CITIES ALL OVER EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES.