What if Anne Frank survived the Holocaust?

When people talk about the Holocaust, they sometimes bring up the innocence that was lost in the concentration camps and the gas chambers. For many people, the defining symbol of innocence in the Holocaust was Annelies Marie Frank or for short, Anne Frank.

She is famous for the Diary of a Young Girl, which she wrote while hiding from the Nazis in the Neatherlands, before her, her family and their helpers were exposed and arrested. Anne was sent to Bergen-Belsen. She died just before the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen of typhus.

But, lately, I have wondered what kind of life she could've lived had she survived the Holocaust. Would she jsut be another Holocaust survivor (as depicted in Harry Turtledove's 'The Eighth-Grade History Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aged') or would she become a human rights activist like the great Elie Wiesel?

Frankly, I think she would've followed the latter path, based on what she wrote in her diary, but what do you think Anne Frank would've done had she survived? Would she have lived a normal life or become a form of celebrity or human rights activist?
 
I suspect she might have become a novelist or journalist. I have only read her in translation but she apparently had a clear and descriptive written style. How influential she might have become would depend on her choices of material and life partner. But let us say moderately influential. Probably a few cultural butterflies there.
 

Driftless

Donor
To be sure, part of her legacy is personalizing the tragedy of the Holocaust. We are left with a compelling story of a real person who could have been anyone's daughter, sister, neice, etc.

Her communication style was very good. Had she survived Bergen-Belsen; there might have been two volumes: Amsterdam and her memories of the Camp.
 
I suspect there are quite a few alternative Anne Franks:-
1) Where her whole family survived in hiding - sombre but optimistic view of humanity;
2) Where she and her father survived the camps- bitterer and more pessimistic;
3) Where she alone survived -very heavy dose of survivor's guilt
4) Where she and her mother survived or she and her sister -loss of her father would have profound psychological effects and affect subsequent interaction with mother and/or sibling in light of it
And then there is the issue of any future relationships - does she marry? In or out of the faith? Once or more than once? Or is she so traumatised that she couldn't cope with a relationship? All of that will affect her stylistic evolution and productivity. As will children (if any)
As she is so articulate, I suspect she will find some catharsis in writing in any TL and she was an insightful teenager - her comments on the 1944 bomb plot more or less echo those of Winston Churchill but she could be anything from a profound and compelling witness to human depravity to a "it must never happen again" political journalist. Or an author for children and young adults.
 

Kaze

Banned
According to a phrase in her diary, of course it has been a fox's age since I read it, she wanted to be a dog trainer or a dentist.
Or you are dark-minded, she could go the Simon Wiesenthal route - becoming a Nazi hunter where she is successful in capturing, trying, and killing them in their exiles.
 
She would likely be forgotten, but would hopefully lead a good life. There is no way of knowing for certain as there are far too many variables.

Wladyslaw Szpilman wrote The Pianist in 1946, which whilst censored by the authorities never became well known until the movie was released in 2002. Few outside of Poland would have known him.

Anne Franks legend is based on her tragedy. It is the story of a teenage girls life being cut short by the forces of darkness. Had she lived, she would have been another survivor telling her story. I would like to think she would have been successful though.
 
She’d have lived out an unremarkable, hopefully happy life. The idea that she’d have become any kind of famous writer is fairly silly to me.
 
She’d have lived out an unremarkable, hopefully happy life. The idea that she’d have become any kind of famous writer is fairly silly to me.
Alright, only outside chance that she'll become a famous journalist, because besides having loads of talent, you also need timing and luck factors, for example, that your sincere interests overlap enough with the interests of the public and what newspapers are doing.

But if she does became a famous journalist . . .

Love to see her dive in and cover the 1980 and '82 double-dip recession and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. (and presumably much of the industrialized world). Confidently and matter-of-factly explaining the effect on individuals and families, as well as good-naturedly pushing economists to explain their graphs in plain English (or Dutch as the case may be!)
 
In the Changing The Times website, there is a piece or two about her and it states that she ends up as a witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials and years later becomes prime minister of Israel.
 
As I said above, she was intelligent, articulate and had the writing bug. I suspect that in any TL where she existed that did not involve a Nazi victory she would be a person known to a wider world than her own family and immediate community. More obscure in TLs with no holocaust probably, but someone who had written some books who would come up on any TLs equivalent of the Internet (or Dictionary of National Bibliography for those that haven't developed computers yet).
 

Driftless

Donor
Anne Franks legend is based on her tragedy. It is the story of a teenage girls life being cut short by the forces of darkness. Had she lived, she would have been another survivor telling her story. I would like to think she would have been successful though.

She’d have lived out an unremarkable, hopefully happy life. The idea that she’d have become any kind of famous writer is fairly silly to me.

Both ideas could be valid; but I believe she had a gift for communicating her feelings that would have emerged over time. I think that writing skill puts her on a plane above other survivors; even those with just as harrowing experiences.
 
Anne Frank wanted to be a writer and her diary was practice for her. She even made revissions in it. The fact that het diary is published, shows she had a talent for writing. Not many teenage girl diaries are good enough to be read by anyone else besides the writer. If Anne survives the holocaust, she will probably try a writing career and she could be able to succeed in it. Would she be world famous? Probably not. I think shemight stay in the Netherlands and write in Dutch. That is after all her primary language. It is the original language of her diary. And since she will write in dutch, she will not become worldfamous, since most Dutch writers are only read in the Dutch language area, especialy in her age. I doubt noone here has heard of writers, like Gerad Reve, Harry Mulish or WF Hermans. The big three of 20th century Dutch literature. Or even Annie MG Schmidt. Or any Dutch writer besides Anne Frank.

So in short, my prediction is that Anne Frank will remain in the Netherlands, tries to become a writer and succeeds in it and become a relatively well known and respected writer in the Netherlands, but be barely known outside of the Netherlands (and Flanders).
 
Actually for some reason Jan Terlouw's "How to become King" and "Winter in Wartime" were translated into English back in the 1970s and I remember enjoying them in my own childhood. But I agree with you. Anne Frank is likely to be a Dutch author or (in a world without the Austrian corporal) a German author. Nationally known rather than internationally famous
 

Driftless

Donor
Anne Frank wanted to be a writer and her diary was practice for her. (snip...) I think she might stay in the Netherlands and write in Dutch. That is after all her primary language. It is the original language of her diary. And since she will write in dutch, she will not become world famous, since most Dutch writers are only read in the Dutch language area, especialy in her age. (snip....).

Corrie ten Boom achieved a modest level of fame in the US late in her life by the re-telling of her own experiences in the Netherlands with the Holocaust. There are certainly parallel lines to the personal history for both women; so it's plausible to me that with Anne's skills as a writer, her story would find an audience
 
In an early timeline I did, the Airship President, where Hugo Eckener becomes German President in 1932, I have her becoming a fairly well known actress, I believe by the 1960s or 1970s (it’s been a bit so I don’t recall all the details). She starts off acting in Germany and then breaks into US films.

This was all based on some recollection I had from back in high school about how she also aspired to be an actress.
More than likely not something that was actually plausible, but it was fun at the time I wrote that TL, which I started almost 10 years ago.

I have to say that in all likelihood the Turtledove short story about her is probably the most plausible of she survives the holocaust, though I personally enjoy the idea of her gaining some level of fame/notoriety had she lived.
 
Anne Frank wanted to be a writer and her diary was practice for her. She even made revissions in it. The fact that het diary is published, shows she had a talent for writing. Not many teenage girl diaries are good enough to be read by anyone else besides the writer. If Anne survives the holocaust, she will probably try a writing career and she could be able to succeed in it. Would she be world famous? Probably not. I think shemight stay in the Netherlands and write in Dutch. That is after all her primary language. It is the original language of her diary. And since she will write in dutch, she will not become worldfamous, since most Dutch writers are only read in the Dutch language area, especialy in her age. I doubt noone here has heard of writers, like Gerad Reve, Harry Mulish or WF Hermans. The big three of 20th century Dutch literature. Or even Annie MG Schmidt. Or any Dutch writer besides Anne Frank.

So in short, my prediction is that Anne Frank will remain in the Netherlands, tries to become a writer and succeeds in it and become a relatively well known and respected writer in the Netherlands, but be barely known outside of the Netherlands (and Flanders).
Right. I mean there's a chance that she gets some prominence in the academic world as a source for life in wartime Netherlands as well (many of her later entries were written in a tone that they were expected to be published, in response to a BBC broadcast stating the Dutch government in exile was planning to collect writings by those who lived through the occupation), but outside that and Dutch language media, I doubt she would have been as well known.
 
Alright, only outside chance that she'll become a famous journalist, because besides having loads of talent, you also need timing and luck factors, for example, that your sincere interests overlap enough with the interests of the public and what newspapers are doing.

But if she does became a famous journalist . . .

Love to see her dive in and cover the 1980 and '82 double-dip recession and the loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. (and presumably much of the industrialized world). Confidently and matter-of-factly explaining the effect on individuals and families, as well as good-naturedly pushing economists to explain their graphs in plain English (or Dutch as the case may be!)
Well, I don't know about the general public, but the subject of her writing was if interest to the Dutch Government.
 
Found it:

FAMED GERMAN ACTRESS TO STAR IN FIRST AMERICAN FILM
HOLLYWOOD, MAY 9- One of the most famous and beloved actress of the Babelsberg Studios, Anne Frank, will be the star of the upcoming film Western Front, which will be set during the Great War.
Frank, 48, began acting in 1950 with a small role in Neue Liebe. Her first staring role came in 1954 in Berliner Sommer. To date, what is considered her best film is the 1970 film Ostland, a gripping drama telling the story of a young woman caught in the upheaval of the Polish War. Ostland won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Frank’s acting is what made that award possible.
Filming on Western Front is expected to begin next week, and producers hope to have the film ready by next summer.
“Famed German Actress to Star in First American Film,” The Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1977.
 
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