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Jennifer Molen
Professor Wertz-Orbaugh
UWRIT 1102-044
16 April 2015
The Girl in Hiding: A Research Review
Anne Frank was a brave girl who went into hiding for two years during the Holocaust. While
she was in hiding she kept a diary which she named Kitty and Anne wrote in her diary every day. Today
Anne's diary is widely known and is a very popular book. This research review goes over what I
learned while writing my inquiry proposal about Anne Frank and also the sources I used to write my
inquiry proposal. The books I used to write my inquiry proposal where extremely helpful and provided
me with a lot of useful information that I needed to write a well developed informational inquiry
proposal.
Anne Frank: Life in Hiding by Johanna Hurwitz was a resourceful book. This book talked about
Anne Frank during the Holocaust, when she was in hiding, also when she was captured and transported
to the camps. There was a specific section I used in my inquiry proposal that talked about the Secret
Annex which is where Anne Frank and her family hid during the Holocaust. The Frank family was not
allowed to go outside because it would have been to dangerous for them. The Secret Annex was located
in the basement of Otto Frank's buisness partner and the Frank family had to be extremely quiet so no
one would hear them. The Secret Annex had curtains but they were not allowed to be opened during the
day due to the risk of someone seeing them (Hurwitz 58). This book was very helpful and had a lot of
information about Anne Frank that I was able to use. I learned that Anne Frank and her family were not
the only family hiding in the Secret Annex. The Van Pels family went into hiding one week after the
Frank family did. Anne is happy because now there are more people to talk to (Hurwitz 33). The
Secret Annex was a very small place to live before the Van Pels family arrived. Anne Frank wrote in

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her diary that the Secret Annex was very small, very dark and damp. I could not imagine living in a
place so small and crowded for over two years. Another part of the book talks about how Anne Frank
viewed the Secret Annex At night in bed I see myself alone in a dungeon, without Father and Mother.
Or Im roaming the streets, or the Annex is on fire, or they come in the middle of the night to take us
away and I crawl under my bed in desperation. (Hurwitz 62)
Another source I used that I thought was very helpful was The Nation Behind the Diary: Anne
Frank and the Holocaust of the Dutch Jews. This book talks about the background behind the Diary of
Anne Frank and how important the diary is today. All throughout the Holocaust, Anne kept a diary that
she wrote in every day. Once the Holocaust was over her diary got published and is now a powerful and
educational read. On page 47 of The Nation Behind the Diary, there is a paragraph that talks about how
Miep, the owner of the house where the Frank family hid for two years, found Anne's diary after they
were arrested and how Miep kept the diary in hopes of giving it back to Anne one day. I kept the diary
in hopes of Anne returning. (Foray 37) Anne Frank died in Bergen- Belson in February 1945 and Miep
had to give her diary to Anne's father who was the only survivor from the Frank family. At first, Anne's
father Otto was unsure if he wanted to publish his daughter's diary. On page 73 of Foray's book it says
Otto Frank had no intention of publishing Anne's diary until he read that Anne wanted to publish her
diary once the Holocaust was over.
My research process for my inquiry proposal was difficult. Instead of just using Google to find
articles on our topics we had to use JSTOR or Project Muse. It was very difficult to find exactly what
you needed to within seconds. Using these websites took time to find exactly what you were looking
for. Even though it was not easy finding sources to use I eventually found really helpful sources and I
know that they were credible sources that provided me with a lot of useful information.

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Works Cited
Foray, Jennifer L. "The Nation Behind the Diary: Anne Frank and the Holocaust of the Dutch Jews."
History Teacher. 44.3 (2011). Print.
Hurwitz, Johanna, and Vera Rosenberry. Anne Frank: Life in Hiding. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication
Society, 1988. Print