The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by: Carol Ann Lee

When I was in Junior High School, I was given an assignment to complete an oral book report. While the assignment was nothing unusual for any English class, the book I read at the time had a dramatic impact on my life -- and fueled my life long fascination with learning about the Holocaust. The book -- Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. The irony of this is that -- at the time, it was a class assignment -- and I didn't exactly get the entire thing read. It took me a couple more years -- and a failed assignment because I didn't actually finish reading the book for class, before I got around to finishing it. My responses to the book were complex, and hard to explain. I was captivated of course -- and wanted to learn more about how the ultimate source of evil could come so close to accomplishing Genocide. But there were other questions as well. How did the Frank family survive for so long without discovery, and then how did they end up being discovered. I came away from the book deeply moved -- but also questioning. That questioning has continued throughout my life. How did some survive the unspeakable horrors of this nightmare? How could so many others have died without the world crying out in outrage, and disgust for the cruel, and careless disregard for life? How could some demonstrate so much brutality on a daily basis, and then go home as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred? And how could so many others have demonstrated heroism beyond the means of the normal individual? All these questions, and many more surfaced with my first introduction to the Holocaust, through the diary of a girl between the ages of 14, and 16. In my most recent reading, The Hidden Life of Otto Frank, I have come to a more profound understanding of not only this amazing young woman, who came to early adulthood while living isolated from a world of insanity; but I have come to appreciate the remarkable family, and the amazing people that were willing to risk everything to try to keep them safe. This book offers a great deal of historical perspective, from an individual point of view. Otto Frank, a man who lost everything, but found his salvation, and survival through giving to, and educating others provides an interesting insight into the life, and times of his family. The author of this book, Carol Ann Lee, has presented her conclusions, based on extensive documentation, and a profound respect for all the individuals involved, while still remaining faithful to the facts as she has been able to uncover them. This is a book that I cannot give a high enough recommendation to. It is deeply moving, and very timely, for a world that is quickly losing the generation that is able to remember a part of history that should never be forgotten.