Annelies
by David R. Gillham has Anne Frank surviving the Holocaust.
As the "what if" comes true, the book presents a
story of hope, survival, trauma, and redemption. But it is
also a reminder of what was lost during the Holocaust: how
many of those lives taken away had such promise. Gillham gives
Anne Frank's life back to her; a life brutally cut short by
the Nazi monsters.
The author commented on why he wrote this alternative history,
a harrowing undertaking, "I was constantly aware that
Anne Frank was a real person who wrote one of the most defining
books of the twentieth century. I understand she is an icon
and have tremendous respect for her legacy. I had Anne survive
the Holocaust to give her the life she was cheated of. Through
telling the story of one girl, I hope to tell the story of
all the "Annes," showing the lost potential of the
millions who perished. Anne Frank's legacy is one of hope,
and I want to show what we are missing in our world today,
because of their loss. After reading the diary of Anne Frank,
I became thunderstruck by her insight, perception, humor,
and brilliance as a writer. I thought about writing a novel
where she survives. After numerous attempts, about 6.5 years
ago the story finally emerges with Anne surviving the camps,
returning to Amsterdam, and being reunited with her dad, Otto."
Gillham skillfully transforms Anne from a bright-eyed girl
with dreams and ambitions to a bitter, angry teenager who
suffers from survivor's guilt and PTSD. The author should
be applauded as he realistically portrays what many Holocaust
survivors suffered. Because of enduring the atrocities and
emotional/physical pain readers see Anne with a haunted tone
that has different ideals. She is not the same person as she
was when writing in her diary prior to, during, and immediately
following the time her family and others were hiding in the
space above her father's workplace. In reading inserts from
her diary at the beginning of each chapter, people see an
optimistic young girl who never gave up hope despite the cruel,
unexplainable hatred and danger that threatened her daily.
Anne before the Gestapo capture is written as, “vivacious,
precocious, demanding, high energy, charming, fun, a dreamer
who could be self-centered. She loved to be the center of
attention, a chatter-box, and what you saw is what you get.
But afterward, she is angry, guilty, and feels betrayed by
everyone including her protectors, and feels like a dislocated
soul. Anne is lonely and rebellious. I also had a hard time
understanding the psychopathic attitude of the Nazis. At the
beginning of Anne’s diary, she refers to the German
language as uncivilized. Even at the end of the war they still
tried to murder as many Jews as possible. They tried to hide
it by blowing up the crematoriums. It is hard to get into
the mindset of the Nazis.”
But after being betrayed the family and their friends were
found by the Nazi Gestapo Amsterdam branch. First sent to
a concentration camp in Holland with her sister and mother,
she was then transferred to the Auschwitz death camp and ended
up in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany. These
scenes show how Anne and her family endured the packed train
to the concentration camps, and the despicable conditions
of dirt and disease throughout them. It is where the alternate
history begins. Unlike the reality where Anne dies of Typhus,
she is rescued and reunited with her father Otto in Amsterdam.
Now seventeen she grows from a person filled with frustration,
rage, anger, and guilt to someone who finally understands
she must live her life and honor the dead by using her diary
to teach the world about her experiences. Although her father
at first would not let go, he eventually allows her to move
to America where the last pages show her with a happy ending,
one the real-life Anne Frank never had, as she replies to
readers notes about her best-selling book, The Secret Annex.
Anne and her dad Otto are at odds. Gillham explains, "They
had two different approaches to redemption and trauma. Otto
refuses to dwell in the tragedies of the past and looks to
a better future. He tells Anne in my book quote, "What
is the point of having survived? What is the point of living
if we are to be poisoned by our own sorrow?" He refers
to their motto of work, love, courage, and hope. He feels
that those loved ones who died can be kept alive with love
in the survivor's hearts. But Anne refuses to relinquish these
tragedies and faces them with anger and guilt. She believes
the guilty deserve punishment and the dead deserve justice.
I drew a book quote from survivors who wondered where God
was at Bergen-Belsen? Anne feels, "The only thing God
has given us is death. God has given us the gas chambers.
God has given us the crematoria. Those are God's gifts to
us and this:" She then exposes her forearm with the number
A-25063."
In reading portions of the real-life diary, people understand
how Anne had hope amid the darkness of humanity. This novel
transports readers as they take Anne’s journey with
her to the hiding place, the concentration camps, and as she
struggles to survive the aftermath of the Holocaust. Gillham
should be given a shout-out for taking on this risky project,
but he did it successfully with sensitivity and humility.
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