WI: Anne Frank survives the Holocaust
- Thread starter Alon
- Start date
Probably this, but I can't help think that she might at very least have published a semi-notable book on her story. She wouldn't be a household name, but I don't think she'd be completely unknown. Perhaps famous on par with Eva Mozes Kor.
I believe this is Turtledove's 2014 short story "The Eighth Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging"
I take the opposite view. From the diaries its obvious that she was a really good writer, even as a teenager. Now literary careers are really hit-or-miss but I think its perfectly plausible that she would have become well known as a writer, and not particularly as a Holocaust victim.
One interesting question is whether she would have left the Netherlands for either Israel or the USA. This would be tied up with who she married.
One interesting question is whether she would have left the Netherlands for either Israel or the USA. This would be tied up with who she married.
What we know from Anne's diary is that she wanted to become a writer and that she was talented. I don't think anything I wrote as a teenager would ever been published, whatever would have happened to me. So if Anne survived, she will try to become writer. Since her native language is Dutch (she wrote her diary in Dutch after all), she will try to become a Dutch writer. It is far easier to write in your native language. That means she needs to remain in the Netherlands. She needs to be close to her potential publishers after all. She will probably only be read in the Dutch language area (I realy doubt many people here would be able to name one other Dutch writer).
If Anne survives, her father will probably remain in the Netherlands longer. He now has a reason to stay after all. He might try to encourage Anne to study. Maybe she will study Dutch, become a teacher and try to write in her free time.
If Anne survives, her father will probably remain in the Netherlands longer. He now has a reason to stay after all. He might try to encourage Anne to study. Maybe she will study Dutch, become a teacher and try to write in her free time.
@pompejus : While it is easier to write in your native language, that is not a deal breaker. Out of many examples I give you Joseph Conrad, whose writings in English are wonderful. His native language was Polish, and was not considered fluent in English until his 20s. Depending on where she might end up, she could be writing in Hebrew or English...
There are many photographs of her surviving.
And her diary survives
Do we know (if it is even possible to know) how her spirit was holding up in the camp before she died?
If she came out determined, she could use a mix of those to tell her story
Maybe it would not at first be so poignant, but it could later be even more powerful, how to avoid the slip into fascism and collusion
And her diary survives
Do we know (if it is even possible to know) how her spirit was holding up in the camp before she died?
If she came out determined, she could use a mix of those to tell her story
Maybe it would not at first be so poignant, but it could later be even more powerful, how to avoid the slip into fascism and collusion
Remind me who wrote Max Havellar or The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi? Of course she could become a journalist, or her work could find audiences in translation-not uncommon for a otherwise less-spoken language to have some authors famous outside of it. I mean, look at Halldor Laxness.
She still could became widely known the way Władysław Szpilman "the Pianist" did.
She moved when she was five. She pretty much got all her education in Dutch and would have far better at it than German.