"I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support." That is how Anne Frank, who would have celebrated her 77th birthday today, began her diary.
The enduring record of her thoughts, fears and hopes as she hid from the Germans in the "secret annexe" of an Amsterdam house ensures that she continues to be the most famous of the 1.5million Jewish children killed during the second world war.
Frank was given the red and white chequered book on her thirteenth birthday in 1942. The following month, her family was forced into hiding where they stayed for more than two years. The Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam uses excerpts of the diary to detail how the entrance to the annexe was hidden by a swinging bookcase and the depression at hearing about Jewish friends being taken away to Westerbork. It also tells of the betrayal which led to Frank's discovery and transfer to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died.
The Anne Frank Trust recommends seven ways to mark today. You could get started at Anne Frank Guide which gives an overview of the teenager, her family, home and how her diary came to be published after the war.
This site lists some of the incidents during their hiding while GradeSaver has detailed analysis of the tragic memoirs.
