Forever Night

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as god himself. Never."

Het Achterhuis

"Not being able to go outside upsets me more than I can say, and I'm terrified our hiding place will be discovered and that we'll be shot. That, of course, is a fairly dismal prospect."

Seventy years ago today was the beginning of the end for a young girl who just wanted to live and express herself through her writing, with aspirations of being a journalist; a girl who somehow saw beauty in the world despite the unrelenting ugliness just outside her window ("In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world"). Anne Frank was captured and arrested by the Nazis on the morning of August 4th, 1944 and sent to Huis Van Bewaring, then on to Auschwitz, and finally to Bergen-Belsen where she died at age 15.