[MajestyJo]

In Amsterdam, the capital of Germanoccupied
Holland in the Second World
War, Anne Frank and her family and four
other Jews hid from the Nazis in concealed
rooms in what had been her father’s
offices. For more than two years
they were secure there, unknown to
those who worked in the building, except
for a friend who arranged to get food
to them. They were betrayed in 1944,
and all eight were sent to the death
camps. Only Anne’s father - Otto Frank -
survived and returned.

Anne died of typhus in the concentration
camp of Bergen-Belsen on this day,
12th March, 1945, aged 15. Only weeks
later the camp was liberated.
3 Anne Frank’s story is now known to millions
across the world because of the diary
that she kept about her innermost
thoughts during those years in hiding.
Her father discovered the diary on his
return to their hiding-place, once the war
ended. ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ has sold
25 million copies, and has been printed
in over 50 languages.
T
his is an excerpt from Anne’s diary,
dated Saturday 15th July 1944:

“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped
all my ideals because they seem so absurd
and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep
them, because in spite of everything I still
believe that people are really good at heart.
I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation
consisting of confusion, misery, and
death. I see the world gradually being
turned into a wilderness. I hear the everapproaching
thunder, which will destroy
us, too. I can feel the suffering of millions
and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think
that it will all come right, that this cruelty,
too, will end, and that peace and tranquility
will return again. In the meantime, I must
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped
all my ideals because they seem so absurd
and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep
them, because in spite of everything I still
believe that people are really good at heart.
I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation
consisting of confusion, misery, and
death. I see the world gradually being
turned into a wilderness. I hear the ever approaching
thunder, which will destroy
us, too. I can feel the suffering of millions
and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think
that it will all come right, that this cruelty,
too, will end, and that peace and tranquility
will return again. In the meantime, I must
uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will
come when I shall be able to carry them
out.”

Let us pause for a moment in silent
prayer, thinking of all who suffer prejudice
and persecution because of their
race, colour, religion or political views…

(pause…)

God our Father,
you call each of us by name
and you know
the innermost thoughts
that we keep to ourselves.
Stay with us, day by day,
in good times and in bad.
Empower us with your Spirit
that we may grow in character
and develop a true sense of values
and ideals
through following Jesus,
your Son and our Brother.
Amen.