This is the only known video of Anne Frank that was just made available. While short, it adds an even more chilling aspect to her writings.
The 20-second footage from July 21, 1941 showing the 13-year-old Anne leaning out of a second-floor window to get a better look at a bride and groom who lived at No 37 Merwedeplein, next door to the Franks at No 39. It was less than a year before the family went into hiding. Anne would die of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp only days after the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Only her father would survive. The family of the couple gave the film to Otto Frank, Anne’s father, in the 1950s.
The most haunting aspect of the film is the sense of quiet and tranquility before the storm. Frank is just one more little girl who wants to see the bride and groom. She also has the happy disposition that rarely left her in her diary.
The film fits perfectly with Anne’s observation in her diary:
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
