The Footsteps of Anne Frank

The essential companion to Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl," first published in 1958, is back in print for the first time inmore than25 years
Ernst Schnabel interviewed 42 of the people mentioned by Anne Frank in her diary, including her father, other family members, and close relatives and friends, in order to offer an accurate picture of who she actually was. Otto Frank initiated this project, such was the demand for more information about his daughter following the publication of her diary as well as to combat growing accusations at the time, from the far right, that the diary was fake. Anne Frank left only a faint trail behind her. Acquaintances describe her as gracious, capricious at times, and full of ideas. She had a tender, but also critical spirit; a special gift for feeling deeply and for fear, but also her special kind of courage. This superbly written document broadens the picture we have of this extraordinary youn girl. It also tells the full dramatic story of her family's betrayal, and its disastrous aftermath in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen."

Ernst Schnabel (1913-1986) gave up school at the age of 16 to sail the world and become a writer. Following an apprenticeship in the Merchant Navy, he served as a sailor from 1932 to 1936. He had written two novels by the outbreak of WWII, and was immediately drafted into the German navy where he continued to write. After the war, Schnabel, along with a group of intellectuals, was authorized by the British military to create a new German broadcasting station. Schnabel wrote works of fiction, essays, a libretto, radio plays, scripts, and documentaries, and was a pioneer of radio broadcasting. Erika Prins is a historian at Anne Frank House in Amsterdan. Gillian Walnes is the cofounder and executive director of Anne Frank Trust UK.