Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend

Wow! this book was so GREAT! I couldn't put it down. I read it after I read Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, which I absolutely loved, too. I enjoyed learning more about Anne Frank and her life. I also liked the pictures. This is one of my favorite books. You have to read it!

This book is wonderfull. It tells the story of one of the secondary characters in Anne's diary, Hannali (ie Lies) Gosens.It's true that it focuses mostly on Hannah, but that's the way it should be. It fills in many of the essential holes in Anne's story and tells us what happened to their other friend Sanna ....If you like this one, I also recommend Eva's Story. It's the story of Anne's posthumous step-sister (her mom married Otto after the war). It's true that the parents never met, but Eva had been over to the Frank House many times and was even at ther birthday party where they watched Rin Tin Tin (or whatever the movie was) and Anne got her diary. Both books provide valuable instight and are necessary to the understanding of Anne Frank.

Anne Frank didn't exist in a vacuum. She had friends, some mentioned in her diary. One of these was Hannah Gosler, "Lies" in Anne's writings. Now Hannah Gosler has set down her childhood memories of both Anne and her own terrifying experiences during the Nazi occupation of Holland. Mrs. Pick-Gosler's odyssey is every bit as astonishing as Anne's. The book begins with the Franks' disappearance and careens headlong into the Goslers' own nightmare. Somehow, Hannah manages to keep hold of her toddler sister Gabi even as the rest of her family dies--in pieces, member by member. There is the heartrending chance reunion with Anne through an Auschwitz fence mentioned in the Afterward of Anne's diary. And finally the end of the war and surreal "liberation"...from a Nazi cattle car, with Auschwitz survivors staggering out into a deserted snowy field, almost senseless with illness and starvation, their guards having fled. Parents should be both warned and assured: this beautiful book doesn't flinch from brutal fact, but in Ms. Gold's deft hand the language manages to convey information without any morbidity. And the haunting photographs are a precious inclusion. We see little Anne, dark eyes laughing, against the backdrop of her Amsterdam appartment building. Hannah grows up before our eyes in a series of photos taken against this same wall. There is one photo of Hannah holding little Gabi, and it's shocking to know this is the same child she managed to keep alive through the Nazi concentration camps. But the most heartbreaking photo is on the back of the book. Nine beautiful little girls line up, arms around shoulders, smiling in pretty party dresses. It's Anne's birthday. Looking at all those nobby knees and sweet faces will take your breath away. Many of the girls didn't survive the war. And yet in a few short years Hannah would save a life, and Anne (whom Hannah called the Pole Star) would write one of the most important documents of the the 20th Century.

This book was very touching! I read it about a month ago, and have also read other books about this subject since then, but this was one of my favorites. It was so wonderful because Hannah had to watch over her sister and protect her. I loved how brave she was. She only wanted to survive because she had to protect her sister. After all she had been through she found out that both her parents died but still continued to take care of her sister even when she got sick. I loved this book and thought it was very moving. A very good book for anyone to enjoy.