THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK - book summaries and study materials

Study Help Essay Topics

1. Try to keep a diary for a week. Can you make it interesting and varied? 2. Imagine that you are in hiding with your family. Write descriptions of everyone’s character, your feelings, conversations you have, and things you do. 3. What kind of a girl do you think Anne […]

Character Analysis Elli

Anne Frank

Elli was a young girl who worked in the office as a typist and was the closest to Anne during the period she was in hiding. She is a gentle, warm, shy person, and although she was eight or nine years older than Anne, she often discussed her personal problems […]

Character Analysis Miep

Anne Frank

Miep has been described by someone who met her after the war as “a small, delicate, intelligent young woman.” She was born in Vienna, and she was sent to Holland after World War I as an “under-nourished child” in whom a welfare organization had taken an interest. She remained in […]

Character Analysis Mr. Koophuis

Anne Frank

Mr. Koophuis had met Mr. Frank in Amsterdam in 1923, when they both had business dealings there. This association continued intermittently until 1933, when the Franks moved to Amsterdam and the business relationship and personal friendship between the two men grew. In 1941, Koophuis took over Mr. Frank’s place in […]

Character Analysis Mr. Kraler

Anne Frank

After Mr. Van Daan’s withdrawal from his firm, Mr. Kraler took over the management of dealings between Travis, Inc. and the affiliated firm of Kohlen and Co. He was an Austrian by birth, fought in the Imperial Navy during World War I, and he moved to Holland afterward. He was […]

Character Analysis Lies (pronounced Lees”)”

Anne Frank

In her diary entry for Saturday, November 27, 1943, Anne writes: “Yesterday evening, before I fell asleep, who should suddenly appear before my eyes but Lies! I saw her in front of me, clothed in rags, her face thin and worn. Her eyes were very big and she looked so […]

Character Analysis Mr. Dussel

Anne Frank

Mr. Dussel, the elderly dentist who joined the group in hiding in November 1942, had formerly lived in Berlin and was married to a Catholic woman. He and his wife emigrated to Holland after the anti-Semitic riots of November 1938 which took place throughout Germany. When Mr. Dussel went into […]

Character Analysis Peter Van Daan

Anne Frank

One of the Dutch “protectors” has described Peter as a “simple, lovable boy, whom Anne would sometimes tease for his slow, methodical ways.” It is clear from Anne’s diary that she loved him, although it is possible that she loved her dream of love rather than the boy himself. Peter […]

Character Analysis Mrs. Van Daan

Anne Frank

Mrs. Van Daan was described by one of the group of Dutch “protectors” as “a very uncomplicated person, anxious and cheerful at the same time, as temperamental people often are.” Anne’s account of her in her diary is generally unflattering and intolerant, and we often feel that there was a […]

Character Analysis Mr. Van Daan

Anne Frank

A business associate of Otto Frank’s, Mr. Van Daan was, as someone who knew him put it, “a highly intelligent and well-bred man, but in time his nervous strength gave out.” This is supported by Anne’s account of him in her diary; his wife appears to have been the more […]