Personal Essay. An essay is a short nonfiction work that expresses a writer’s thoughts about a single subject. A personal essay is one that relates to the life of the writer. It is written from the author’s point of view using the pronouns I and me. A good essay develops a single idea, or thesis, and is organized into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. As you read “Why?,” decide what the topic of the essay is and then identify the author’s thesis, or idea about that topic. |
• History Connection. Anne Frank was a Jewish German teenager who lived and wrote during a dark period in the history of Europe. The Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, rose to power in Germany in 1933. Hitler promised jobs and prosperity for a troubled Germany, but he was a ruthless and cruel dictator. He blamed Germany’s problems on the Jews, and his mission was to destroy the Jewish population. Frank was born in Germany in 1929. Her family moved to Holland in 1933 when it became clear to her parents that, as German Jews, their lives would be in danger. In 1940, German soldiers invaded Holland, bringing the anti-Jewish laws that already existed in Germany. Jews were forced to wear yellow stars to identify themselves as Jews, and they were no longer allowed to ride bikes, ride trains, or drive. They were ordered indoors by eight o’clock in the evening, and Jewish children were forbidden to attend school with other children. Jews were not allowed to hold certain jobs, so many of them could no longer make a living. In addition to being forced to live by these rules, Jewish men, women, and children were brought to prison-like work camps called concentration camps.
• Frank’s older sister, Margot, was ordered to be sent to a concentration camp. To avoid separating, the Frank family moved with another family to some hidden rooms in an office building. These rooms became known as “the secret annex.” After two years in hiding, the group was discovered by Hitler’s secret police. Anne Frank, her mother, and her sister died of disease in the Nazi camps. Today, Frank is known all over the world for her diary, which tells of the two years she spent in hiding. Her diary and her other writings were found in the secret annex by friends who had been helping to hide the family. They were later given to Anne’s father, the only member of the family to survive. He published them so that his family would be remembered. Since then, Anne Frank’s writings have been published in many languages, inspiring courage around the world.
List the people who have been important teachers in your life. These people might be friends, family members, or school teachers. What have you learned about yourself and the world from these people?
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