The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank was published in Dutch in 1947 (and in English in 1952), using extracts from the diary she kept while in hiding during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands.

Editorial history

The first transcription of Anne's diary was made by Otto Frank for his relatives in Switzerland. The second, a composition of the rewritten draft on loose sheets, sketches from her essays book, and scenes from her original diaries, became the first draft submitted for publication, with an epilogue explaining the fate of its author, written by a family friend. In the spring of 1946 it came to the attention of Dr. Jan Romein, a Dutch historian, who was so moved by it that he immediately wrote an article for the newspaper Het Parool:

Related Topics:
Switzerland - 1946

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:This apparently inconsequential diary by a child, this "de profundis" stammered out in a child's voice, embodies all the hideousness of fascism, more so than all the evidence of Nuremberg put together.

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This caught the interest of Contact Publishing in Amsterdam, who approached Otto Frank to submit a draft of the manuscript for their consideration. They offered to publish but advised Otto Frank that Anne's candor about her emerging sexuality might offend certain conservative quarters and suggested cuts. Further entries were deleted before the book was published on June 25, 1947.

Related Topics:
June 25 - 1947

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At the end of 1950 a translator was found to produce an English-language version. Barbara Mooyaart-Doubleday was contracted by Vallentine, Mitchell & Co. in England and by the end of the following year her translation was submitted, now including the deleted passages at Otto Frank's request and the book appeared in America and Great Britain 1952. It became a bestseller. Translations into German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Greek followed. The play based on the diary won the Pulitzer Prize for 1955, and the subsequent movie earned Shelley Winters an Academy Award for her performance. Anne Frank had, in the sense, returned.

Related Topics:
1950 - America - Great Britain - Shelley Winters - Academy Award

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