# Some Questions on Anne Frank **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005 "2009-10-08T01:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/1 "2009-10-08T01:15:30Z")
I’ve been reading the Diary of Anne Frank at school and having not finished it yet have a few questions about it’s author. Now considering how famous the book is and how all diaries are analyzed heavily by academians who probably have three hundred page reports (BTW it’s SARCASM) on each of my questions I will ask: 1. What was Anne Frank’s thoughts and feelings on sex and love? 2. Is there any evidence that Anne Frank had Asperger’s. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/2 "2009-10-08T01:29:51Z")
Anne’s original diary included her thoughts on sex. Her father edited out these passages prior to publication, and the version commonly used in schools is the edited one. You can get the full republished version at the library if you like. > **[The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition: Frank, Anne, Frank, Otto M.,...](https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Young-Girl-Definitive/dp/0553577123)** > > The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition \[Frank, Anne, Frank, Otto M., Pressler, Mirjam, Massotty, Susan\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition The edits also spin Anne’s personality in a particular way, possibly not reflecting reality when compared to the full edition. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/3 "2009-10-08T01:55:49Z")
Why would you think she had Asperger’s? Seemed like a perfectly normal (somewhat sheltered) girl to me. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/4 "2009-10-08T07:47:17Z")
[QUOTE=Wikipedia] Her friend Hanneli Goslar later recalled that from early childhood, Anne frequently wrote, though she shielded her work with her hands and refused to discuss the content of her writing. Margot and Anne had highly distinct personalities, Margot being well-mannered, reserved, and studious, while Anne was outspoken, energetic, and extroverted [/QUOTE] Doesn’t sound like much of an aspy to me. > **[Anne Frank](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)** > > Annelies Marie Frank\[a\] (12 June 1929 – c. February or March 1945) was a German-born Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim. She gained worldwide fame posthumously for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. In the diary, she regularly described her family's everyday life in their hiding place in an Amsterdam attic from 1942 until their arrest in 1944. > Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929. In 1934, when she was four and a half, Fr... ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/5 "2009-10-08T11:22:11Z")
Even if she had Asperger you couldn’t prove it, could you? It would remain pure speculation. And while we’re speculating, no I don’t think was an Aspergie. She was popular in school before she went into hiding, so no evidence of the social awkwardness often associated with Asperger. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/6 "2009-10-08T15:48:34Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > 1. Is there any evidence that Anne Frank had Asperger’s. I’m wondering if the OP is asking this just because she kept a diary. Maybe that sounds asocial these days. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/7 "2009-10-08T15:54:57Z")
Anne Frank sounds about as far from Asperger’s as you can get. By all accounts (her own and others) she was an outgoing chatterbox, who enjoyed keeping the diary because it was one more “person” at whom to chatter. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/8 "2009-10-08T17:20:49Z")
I saw a copy of what appeared to be her diary in her own hand at the Anne Frank Mueseum in Amsterdam and thought that I’d be able to find a used copy cheaper once I got back home. I’ve had no luck, does anyone know if this was unedited as well and where I could get one? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/9 "2009-10-08T17:40:33Z")
There is quite a difference between the actual diaries and the diaries that are read. Read Anne Franks diaries many years ago in school and then the full unedited (or at least fuller diaries) later. The difference was quite a lot. She had some not so flattering comments on her parents marriage IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/10 "2009-10-08T18:12:17Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I saw a copy of what appeared to be her diary in her own hand at the Anne Frank Mueseum in Amsterdam and thought that I’d be able to find a used copy cheaper once I got back home. I’ve had no luck, does anyone know if this was unedited as well and where I could get one? It would be pretty difficult to read “in her own hand”, even if you read Dutch. After she filled up her original diary, she wrote more in account books and on loose-leaf paper, and then started editing and adding marginal comments to the original. For an English translation as close to unedited as possible, given the somewhat fractured nature of the original, see the “critical edition” published in the 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/11 "2009-10-08T18:19:06Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > After she filled up her original diary, she wrote more in account books and on loose-leaf paper, and then started editing and adding marginal comments to the original. Yes, that’s how it appeared diary plus a collection of loose notes and stuff sribbled in the margins (including some sketches) translated into english (and several other languages). It cost about 60 euro, which was more than I wanted to spend that day . . . Still, I’ll check and see if the library has a copy of the critical issue. It’s been one of those thinkgs I’ve put off looking into until I had more time and this thread has brought my interest in the subject back to my frontal lobes.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/12 "2009-10-08T18:22:05Z")
People with Asperger’s may be ‘socially awkward’ but they are just as likely to be chatterboxes and enjoy having many friends as a neurotypical person. ‘Socially awkward’ does not mean shy, in this case. It means a deficient ability to pick up on other people’s cues. My longtime friend with Asperger’s is an extrovert, has many friends, and loves to talk to people… but she tends to only talk to people about her specific interests, and will not realize it when she is annoying or boring someone. She can’t ‘read’ other people the way I can. So no, I don’t think it’s so crazy to suggest AF was an Aspie. But I haven’t read the book in many years. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/13 "2009-10-08T18:29:00Z")
Thank God- I thought this was going to be questions like “how was the original written in ballpoint pen even though that would not be invented till after the Holocaust?” (Yeah- a common accusation from HoloHoaxers.) But then, I didn’t know that Curtis was the questioner at first, and he doesn’t roll like that. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/14 "2009-10-09T00:42:52Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Anne Frank sounds about as far from Asperger’s as you can get. By all accounts (her own and others) she was an outgoing chatterbox, who enjoyed keeping the diary because it was one more “person” at whom to chatter. She wrote the diary so she could write with complete confidence in the person, she apparently did not have complete confidence with her friends and family. Also I have Asperger’s and If I were a girl and was going to write a diary it would sound vaguely like her’s actually especially in prose style and so on. Also nobody’s been answering question #1, please answer it. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/15 "2009-10-09T01:38:29Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > She wrote the diary so she could write with complete confidence in the person, she apparently did not have complete confidence with her friends and family. If you were living in essentially a small prison with 7 other people, frequently hungry and always bored, not to mention in constant fear for your life, you might find it very very politic to keep certain of your thoughts private. Her choice to write a diary suggests a higher than average understanding of human emotions and social relations, rather than a deficit in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/16 "2009-10-09T01:41:51Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > If you were living in essentially a small prison with 7 other people, frequently hungry and always bored, not to mention in constant fear for your life, you might find it very very politic to keep certain of your thoughts private. Her choice to write a diary suggests a higher than average understanding of human emotions and social relations, rather than a deficit in that regard. A lot of people with Asperger’s do understand human and social matter quite well depending on their severity. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/17 "2009-10-09T01:46:06Z")
She started the diary before she went into hiding, but still. Diary keeping isn’t all that common nowadays, but in the past it was very common. Here, for instance, is a [diary](http://wordsofgrandma.blogspot.com/) an American woman in the 40s kept. Anyway, keeping a diary was extremely common in the past, and isn’t a sign of autism. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/18 "2009-10-09T01:49:53Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Also nobody’s been answering question #1, please answer it. She aged from 13 to 15 while writing the diary, during which time she fell in love with her male house-mate, and like most of us her feelings evolved a great deal as she matured. I would say, read the “critical edition” of the diary (or some other unexpurgated version), as it would certainly answer such a broad question better than we can. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/19 "2009-10-09T01:55:33Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > If you were living in essentially a small prison with 7 other people, frequently hungry and always bored, not to mention in constant fear for your life, you might find it very very politic to keep certain of your thoughts private. Her choice to write a diary suggests a higher than average understanding of human emotions and social relations, rather than a deficit in that regard. And lots of people, male and female, keep and kept diaries without being antisocial. It’s just that no matter who you are, you’re not going to have nice thoughts all the time. Everyone’s going to have a few mean thoughts that they can’t fully express. Also, is it just me or does question number one sound like a homework assignment? I’m not saying the OP is asking for that, but it’s such a broad open ended question it almost reads like an essay question. I mean, if you’re reading the book for yourself, won’t you get some sense of the answer? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005/20 "2009-10-09T02:14:24Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > And lots of people, male and female, keep and kept diaries without being antisocial. It’s just that no matter who you are, you’re not going to have nice thoughts all the time. Everyone’s going to have a few mean thoughts that they can’t fully express. > > Also, is it just me or does question number one sound like a homework assignment? I’m not saying the OP is asking for that, but it’s such a broad open ended question it almost reads like an essay question. I mean, if you’re reading the book for yourself, won’t you get some sense of the answer? We’re reading at homeroom very slowly at something like two pages per day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-questions-on-anne-frank/513005.md?page=2)