Why are there so many books, movies, documentaries, etc. about the Holocaust? Why do we keep retelling this story>

I think that there are many things about the Holocaust because people want us to realize that this should never happen.  To show that these things should be prevented from happening.  I don't think that this event was retold over and over again to criticize the German, or to show how inhumane people could be sometimes; i think it was just a lesson for us to learn.  And it is unfortunate that millions of people had to die for the lesson/ message to get across.  The Holocaust delivered a very special message to me, and that people are very special.  And you can't treat people just because you think of a particular way of someone.  6 million lives shouldn't have been lost because of one man's mistake.  

Question 5m

If you could interview survivors from the Holocaust, what would you ask them?

1. What was it like living in constant terror?

2. With whom did you know to put your trust in? (Such as Miep and Kraler)

3. Why couldn't the Jews just tell the Nazis that they weren't Jews?

4. How did you react when you had found out that they were moving you to concentration camps after the ghetto?

5. What was it really like at the concentration camps?

6. How did it feel at the concentration camps that one by one they were dying? For example, once you had made a friend, they would die.  

7. How did you feel towards the Nazis afterwards?

8. How did you feel when you had realized that you were few of the many people the survived?

9. Did you forgive them for what they did?

Question 5K

During the crisis in Act Two, Scene 3, Mr. Frank says, "We don't need the Nazis to destroy us.  We're destroying ourselves."  What does he mean here?  are the Annex inhabitants crueler and more destructive than when they first went into hiding?  How would you describe the forces destroying the characters from inside?  Do you think, given their desperate situation, that such behavior was inevitable?  Give examples from the text to support your answer.  

Mr. Frank is saying that even without the Nazis trying to come and destroy them, the inhabitants are doing so themselves.  They are going at each other with comments and each of them are getting on each others nerve.  They tear each other down with the bickering at each other.  Because as time passes by, everyone is getting frustrated with each other, they are crueler than how they were before.  Everyone of them is getting irritated by the little things they do.  Because they are locked in a smaller room, i think it is even worse.  The force that are inside the characters i think is want.  The wanting to get out of the room and breathe fresh air.  They have been locked in the room for about a year and a half and i bet that being in a small room in the attic could get claustrophobic.  I think that their behavior was predictable.  Such as when Mr. Van Daan steals food, and Mrs. Frank tells him to get out of the house.  Given the situation they were in, it was crucial to have food for the family.  Yet, Mr. Van Daan decides to get out of bed and steal food.  Mrs. Frank blows up.  It is normal for her to behave that way, but they were tearing each other down.  They were bickering at each other to stay alive.  Even without the Nazi's tearing them down physically, they were doing so themselves mentally.

Question 5f

Describe how the Hanukkah celebration in Scene 5 is interrupted.  What does Peter do to make matters worse?  According to Dussel, how will this incident lead to their discovery by the police?

Hanukkah is interrupted by the presence of the thief.  The Franks and the Van Daans instinctively think that it is the police, however, later realize that it was just a thief.  Peter makes things worse by his cat, Mouschi.  Mouschi makes noises when he walks and Peter jumps at him to make him quiet, which makes the thief suspicious of things.  And according to Mr. Dussel, the Franks and Van Daans would get discovered because of the thief.  The thief would go to the gestapo and tell them that, if they let the thief go, he would tell them where some Jews are hiding.  This actually does happen i believe.  The thief was the one who betrayed them.  I'm not sure, but if i was the thief, i would have just kept my mouth shut.  I really don't know how people could trade in themselves for other people's lives.  

Question 5B

What do you think would be the hardest part of life in the Secret Annex: the fear of discovery, the need to keep silent for hours at a time, the sharing of cramped quarters with strangers, or some other aspect? Explain.

I think that the hardest part of living in the secret annex is the fear of discovery.  You are living in constant terror, and you never could let that down, because once you do, you think about all the things that may lead you to discovery.  You would be always worrying about what could happen to you if you got discovered such as the concentration camps.  By this time, the residents of the secret annex would have probably known the punishments for those who had helped the Jews, and those Jews in hiding.  The Franks and the Van Daans were risking other people's lives as well.  Everyday you would constantly have to wonder if you would be caught or not.  Every time you hear boots approaching, the bookcase knocking, you would wonder if you ever get caught or not.  And i guess, the scariest part of the secret annex was when they knew that they were going to be caught.  When the guards were knocking on the door, and while i was watching the movie, the fear that were in their eyes was really sad to watch.  It was like they knew it was over, and after all the time that they had survived, they were being caught.  

Question 5A

"But always remember this, Anneke.  There are no wall, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind."

I think what this statement means is that, nothing can keep you from using your mind.  Your mind is a place of your own, and whatever they do physically to you, they cannot hurt you inside.  In your mind, you can do anything.  Although you may need to obey people, inside your head, they can't do anything.  It is you that makes the decisions; they cannot make the choices for you.  I would have to say that i agree with this statement.  Whatever you think is free.  Your mind cannot be put into a room and be locked.  Even if it is, it is free to roam wherever pleased.  Such as, in the movie, when Peter is in his room and feeling down, Anne tells him that, she sometimes imagines herself outside in the park.  Although they are in hiding, and technically speaking cannot go out and walk in the park, Anne's mind is able to go outside and walk with her father.  I think that this is a very powerful statement.  It would have given strength to many of the victims of the Holocaust.  No matter what youre going through physically, your mind would always be free.

Dramatic Irony

Something that we know Anne doesn't know is that she nor many of her family members survive.  It somehow makes me feel so bad.  Because we know this and she doesn't Anne is hopeful that she'll live to see the day the war is over.  I guess, it is heartbreaking that this isn't a happily ever after story.  The Franks and the Van Daans try so hard to stay alive.  They are hopeful.  Just the thought that they are in hiding, and haven't been discovered yet is perhaps heartening to them.  Despite all the trouble that they go through, in the end, they still are terminated.  I guess for me, i think it would have been better for the Franks and the Van Daans to be caught, instead of living in misery and hope for so many months, and later realize that they are going to die anyways.  Anne is such a vibrant young girl, and she seeks for the day that she may go out and live normally again, but we know, there would be no such day.