Nicole
LaReau
Anne
Frank: Prompt 1d
Nationality during the Holocaust
seems a black and white issue; after all, the Germans and Jews were sworn
enemies. However, Anne Frank is stuck somewhere in the middle of these two
nationalities. Her and her family were forced to leave Germany because of their
religion, but their departure does not eliminate their former national
identity. Anne spends the pages of October 9, 1942 in her diary discussing the
horrid rumors beginning to circulate about how the Germans are treating the
Jews in Holland, as they have begun to take away many of their close friends.
But this treatment is nothing compared to outside of Germany: “[i]f it’s that
bad in Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places
where the Germans are sending them?” She begins to identify with the
nationality of her host country versus her birth country early on in her time
in hiding.
However, Anne seems to still be
wrestling with her identity. In the same passage as above, Anne still
identifies those who are suffering as the “other”. She is Jewish but she has
not been taken, therefore those who are in far-off lands being tortured by the
Germans remain distant in her descriptions; she refers to the Jews in
concentration camps as “the people,” as in “[t]he people get almost nothing to
eat, much less to drink…many people look Jewish…” By distinguishing herself as separate,
she unknowingly seperates herself from the nationality that is the reason for
her current living situation. In these descriptions exist a confusing dichotomy
of recognition for the plight of the Jewish people without ownership for her
own religion and shifting nationality. The consequences of her Jewish identity
seems far away in the cozy confines of The Secret Annex.
As the book continues, Anne begins
to answer the discrepancies amongst her nationality and religion. Although she
doesn’t fully embrace ownership of one nationality in this particular passage,
she concludes by saying “[f]ine specimens of humanity, those Germans, and to
think I’m actually one of them! No, that’s not true, Hitler took away our
nationality long ago.” Through this statement, she begins to reconcile herself
to the shifted identity of a collective people as well as her own changing
identity in the face of war.
You make a good point by saying, "She begins to reconcile herself to the shifted identity of a collective people as well as her own changing identity in the face of war." She finally begins to understand she can play a major role in making a difference. She may be one girl, but the ripple effect of her words are still felt today.
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteI agree that we certainly see Anne shifting between various identifications. She does seem to reject her German nationality, particularly in the passage you cite above, and we see her preferring to identify with Holland. She says that she wishes to become a citizen and they are "good people." However, I do think that your point about her Jewish identity could be more nuanced. For example, she does not always refer to them as the people. At times she says our friends, and she says, all because we're Jews. So she does seem to identify as part of the collective more often than not even as she tries to decide if she belongs to Germany, Holland, or if she has no homeland. It would also help to clarify your own points within this brief response if the introductory paragraph contained a specific thesis or ideas map.