On This Day: Anne Frank Captured

The Nazi Gestapo captured 15-year-old Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse on August 4, 1944.

The Franks had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. They occupied the small space with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man, and were aided by Christian friends, who brought them food and supplies.

On her 13th birthday in 1942, Anne began a diary relating her everyday experiences, her relationship with her family and friends, and observations about the increasingly dangerous world around her. For two years, Anne kept a diary about her life in hiding.

On August 1, 1944, Anne made her last entry in her diary. Three days later, 25 months of seclusion ended with the arrival of the Nazi Gestapo. Anne and the others had been given away by an unknown informer, and they were arrested along with two of the Christians who had helped shelter them.Anne and her sister, Margot, were sent to the concentration camps.

While at Bergen-Belsen they caught typhus and died in early March 1945. The camp was liberated by the British less than two months later.Anne's father, Otto, was the only one of the 10 to survive the Nazi death camps.

Use this link and this link to learn more about Anne Frank and her diary.