The Diary That Changed the World

'To build up a future, you have to know the past.' Otto Frank, 1967

In late 1940s Amsterdam, when Otto Frank unwrapped his daughter Anne's diary with trembling hands and began to read the first pages, he discovered a side to his daughter that was as much a revelation to him as it would be to the rest of the world.

He did not know that he was about to create an icon at the heart of a debate about twentieth-century history - with themes about growing up, persecution, human values and religion that are still contested today. Nor did he realise that publication would spark a bitter battle that would embroil him in years of legal contest and eventually drive him to a nervous breakdown and exile. Today, more than seventy-five years after Anne's death, the diary is at the centre of a multi-million-pound industry, with competing foundations, cultural critics and former friends and relatives fighting for the right to control it.

This book goes beyond conventional biographies to examine the story of The Diary of Anne Frank, the highly controversial part it played in twentieth-century history and the publishing world, and the fundamental role it has played in our understanding of the Holocaust. At the same time, it sheds new light on the life and character of Otto Frank, the complex, driven and deeply human figure who lived in the shadows of the terrible events that robbed him of his family, while he painstakingly crafted and controlled his daughter's story.

Autorentext

Karen Bartlett is a writer and journalist based in London. She has written extensively for the Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian and WIRED from Africa, India and the US, and has presented and produced for BBC Radio. She was the youngest director of democratic reform and human rights campaign group Charter88 and began her career in the UK and South Africa. She is the author of After Auschwitz: A Story of Heartbreak and Survival (with Eva Schloss), Architects of Death: The Family Who Engineered the Holocaust and the bestselling Dusty: An Intimate Portrait of a Musical Legend.

Klappentext

"A meticulous account of the fascinating, convoluted and sometimes ugly publishing history of the world's most famous diary. Karen Bartlett's book is all the more relevant at a time of untruths and fake news." - Caroline Moorehead, bestselling author of Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France

When Otto Frank unwrapped his daughter's diary with trembling hands and began to read the first pages, he discovered a side to Anne that was as much a revelation to him as it would be to the rest of the world.

Little did Otto know he was about to create an icon recognised the world over for her bravery, sometimes brutal teenage honesty and determination to see beauty even where its light was most hidden.

Nor did he realise that publication would spark a bitter battle that would embroil him in years of legal contest and eventually drive him to a nervous breakdown and a new life in Switzerland. Today, more than seventy-five years after Anne's death, the diary is at the centre of a multi-million-pound industry, with competing foundations, cultural critics and former friends and relatives fighting for the right to control it.

In this insightful and wide-ranging account, Karen Bartlett tells the full story of The Diary of Anne Frank, the highly controversial part it played in twentieth-century history, and its fundamental role in shaping our understanding of the Holocaust.

At the same time, she sheds new light on the life and character of Otto Frank, the complex, driven and deeply human figure who lived in the shadows of the terrible events that robbed him of his family, while he painstakingly crafted and controlled his daughter's story.