Rare handwritten Anne Frank poem sold at auction - CNN

Rare handwritten Anne Frank poem smashes auction estimate

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

Updated 1730 GMT (0130 HKT) November 23, 2016

Friday, August 1, 2014, marked the 70th anniversary of Anne Frank's final diary entry. Three days later, she was arrested with her family in the "secret annex" of a house in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where they had hidden for two years. She later died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp when she was 15. In her diary, Anne describes a<strong> </strong>1942 picture of herself: "This is a photo as I would wish myself to look all the time. Then I would maybe have a chance to come to Hollywood." Click through the gallery to see other pages from her diary:
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
Friday, August 1, 2014, marked the 70th anniversary of Anne Frank's final diary entry. Three days later, she was arrested with her family in the "secret annex" of a house in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where they had hidden for two years. She later died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp when she was 15. In her diary, Anne describes a 1942 picture of herself: "This is a photo as I would wish myself to look all the time. Then I would maybe have a chance to come to Hollywood." Click through the gallery to see other pages from her diary:
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For her 13th birthday, Anne Frank received a red plaid diary, her first journal. She brought it with her into hiding and began writing in it in 1942. After her death, her father, Otto Frank, edited and compiled the diary. It was published in the Netherlands in 1947 as "The Secret Annex. Diary Letters From June 14, 1942, to August 1, 1944."
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
For her 13th birthday, Anne Frank received a red plaid diary, her first journal. She brought it with her into hiding and began writing in it in 1942. After her death, her father, Otto Frank, edited and compiled the diary. It was published in the Netherlands in 1947 as "The Secret Annex. Diary Letters From June 14, 1942, to August 1, 1944."
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Pages with text and photos from Anne Frank's diary, written in October 1942.
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
Pages with text and photos from Anne Frank's diary, written in October 1942.
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A handwritten page of Anne Frank's diary includes photos of herself on the beach during a holiday with her sister, Margot. The two sisters would live hidden in the annex with their mother, Edith; father, Otto; and another family.
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
A handwritten page of Anne Frank's diary includes photos of herself on the beach during a holiday with her sister, Margot. The two sisters would live hidden in the annex with their mother, Edith; father, Otto; and another family.
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Two pages, written in 1942, from the diary. "Her inner life and her voice seem almost shockingly contemporary, astonishingly similar to the voices of the teenagers we know," says Francine Prose, author of "Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife."
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
Two pages, written in 1942, from the diary. "Her inner life and her voice seem almost shockingly contemporary, astonishingly similar to the voices of the teenagers we know," says Francine Prose, author of "Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife."
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When her diary was almost full, Anne continued writing, using several notebooks. In 1944, she decided to rewrite her diary entries in the form of a novel, intending to publish it after the war, according to curators at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Shown here are the different versions of her diary, known now as versions A, B and C.
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
When her diary was almost full, Anne continued writing, using several notebooks. In 1944, she decided to rewrite her diary entries in the form of a novel, intending to publish it after the war, according to curators at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Shown here are the different versions of her diary, known now as versions A, B and C.
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"The Diary of Anne Frank" has been translated into more than 70 languages in more than 60 nations.
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
"The Diary of Anne Frank" has been translated into more than 70 languages in more than 60 nations.
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Anne Frank in 1941. Her diary is often many young people's introduction to the horrors of the Holocaust.
Photos: Anne Frank: The girl who wanted to write
Anne Frank in 1941. Her diary is often many young people's introduction to the horrors of the Holocaust.
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Story highlights

  • Rare handwritten Anne Frank poem smashes auction estimate
  • The poem sold for 140,000 euros
  • It was written by Anne Frank for the older sister of her best friend

(CNN)A rare handwritten poem by Anne Frank -- known to millions through the diary she kept while in hiding during the Nazi round-up of Jews -- was sold Wednesday at auction for 140,000 euros ($148,000) in the Netherlands.

The poem, also signed by Anne Frank, was written in the "friendship book" of Christiane "Cri-Cri" van Maarsen, the older sister of Frank's best friend, Jacqueline van Maarsen, according to auction house Bubb Kuyper in the city of Haarlem.
    Bubb Kuyper director Thijs Blankevoort told CNN that the sale price -- which was four or five times the expected 30,000-50,000 euros -- had surprised everyone in the auction room.
      He said the buyer was a private person who didn't want to disclose his or her identity.

      'Precious time'

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      The eight-line poem, addressed to Cri-Cri is dated March 28, 1942 -- less than four months before the Frank family went into hiding.
        A poem written by Anne Frank signed and dated Amsterdam, March 28, 1942 sold at auction for 140,000 euros ($148,000).
        A poem written by Anne Frank signed and dated Amsterdam, March 28, 1942 sold at auction for 140,000 euros ($148,000).
        The poem reads:
        Dear Cri-Cri,
        If you did not finish your work properly,
        And lost precious time,
        Then once again take up your task
        And try harder than before.
        If others have reproached you
        For what you have done wrong,
        Then be sure to amend your mistake.
        That is the best answer one can make.
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        According to the auction house "it is a typically edifying poem of the sort that was often written in 'friendship books,' exhorting the owner to do her best and be diligent at work."
        It was the first time the auction house, which specializes in the sale of books, manuscripts and drawings, had sold a document handwritten by Anne Frank, Blankevoort said.
        It was special, he said, to have had contact with a manuscript written "when she was a free girl still."
        Researchers say Anne Frank perished earlier than thought
        Researchers say Anne Frank perished earlier than thought
        Anne Frank was 13 when she and her family began hiding in a dark and damp "secret annex" of a house in Amsterdam to escape the roundup of Jews in Holland in July 1942.
          For two years, she never left the house, spending much of her time writing in her diary. But then Anne and her family were found and arrested by the Nazis in August 1944.
          She died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp sometime around March 1945. Her diary survived to tell her tragic and inspiring story.