Anne Frank was given a diary for her 13th Birthday on 12th June 1942 in which she wrote daily and had planned to publish a book about her time in the Secret Annex. Her diary was published after her death and has been translated into more than 70 languages.

Anne Frank was a child who grew up in Holland and went into hiding during the holocaust.  Holland was invaded on the 10th May 1940 and quickly many anti-Semitic laws were introduced. Anne Frank and her family went into hiding along with another family called the Van Pels. Anne received her diary as a birthday present shortly before they went into hiding.  She began to write in a diary of her experiences in hiding, each diary entry began with the words Dear Kitty as if she were writing to an imaginary friend. Anne also wrote short stories and quotations from other books.

On 4th August the Nazis discovered their hiding place and they were all arrested and sent to different camps. Her writing was found by family friends who had been helping them in hiding and it was held on to in case she ever came back. This was not to be the case and Anne sadly died just 2 months before the end of the war.  She was 15 years old.

Her father Otto Frank was the only one who was in hiding that survived the camps and her writing was given to him. When he read it and saw how she wanted it to ‘go on living even after [her] death’ he organised her writing into a diary that was then published.

In 1960 the site of the secret annex in Amsterdam became a museum called the Anne Frank House where the original diary is on display.

There are several activities that children can do to research and remember the life of Anne Frank:

• Write a newspaper report about the discovery of Anne Frank and the other people who hid with her.
• Use appropriate style and language to write biographical paragraphs about Anne Frank.
• Write a diary entry as if you are Anne Frank.
• Use 2Respond to respond to Anne Frank researching why the family had to go into hiding and how you feel about this.

We have also produced a guide for teachers in Key stage 2 who are teaching about the Holocaust, it aims to give teachers guidance and confidence in teaching this sensitive subject. The guide contains suggested activities, a range of pictures and personal stories that can be used with KS2 children and was compiled by Gillian Walnes Perry MBE, Co-founder and Vice President of the Anne Frank Trust UK with thanks to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and to Helen Wiseman, Holocaust educator at Primary Level.

If you choose to use any of these activities on 12th June, we would love to see and share your work. Tweet us  @2SimpleSoftware or @PurpleMash, or on Facebook @2SimpleUK.