Una donna di 93 anni muore lasciando una soffitta piena di memorie. Ma se quella signora è Helene Frank, sorella di Otto Frank padre di Anne, il valore di quelle memorie diventa inestimabile. Prima della guerra, quando Otto con la sua famiglia si trasferisce ad Amsterdam, sua madre Alice si stabilisce a Basilea e nella soffitta di casa, che erediterà Helene e poi suo figlio Buddy (compagno di giochi della cugina Anne), accumula ricordi, retaggio della famiglia Frank: oltre seimila documenti tra fotografie, cartoline, disegni, poesie e lettere, tra cui quelle che Otto le spedì da Auschwitz. Il racconto di quelle memorie, costruito dalla moglie di Buddy con la sapiente cura di Mirjam Pressler, restituisce un ritratto inedito e ancora più indelebile della famiglia Frank attraverso la loro fitta corrispondenza: gli amori, le vacanze estive, le angosce e le speranze durante gli anni di attese. E partendo dalla vita di Alice Frank prima della guerra, ci regala anche un'immagine di Anne precedente al "Diario", una bambina piena di aspettative e opportunità. (fonte: Amazon)

This book was a timely find in a library display, Having recently returned from a visit to Amsterdam, determined to reread Anne Frank's diary. Through letters. photos and other personal papers, this is the story of her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. Most of the family had escaped to Switzerland before the real atrocities began, with one uncle in London, one in Paris and her own family in Amsterdam. As neutrals in WWI The Netherlands and Switzerland were considered safe.It astounded me that life in Switzerland went on much as normal, only shortages of cash and some commodities reminders that there was a war out there. This family apparently had no idea of the existence of the death camps and the atrocities being perpetuated on their fellow Jews. The were all stateless, Germany having revoked the citizenship of all Jews who had fled the country (rather than be exterminated. What this book makes clear is the totally incomprehensible hatred that led to educated, middle class people, non-militaristic,contributing much to society and harming no one, being wantonly tortured and then killed. Anne's father comes across as a truly exceptional man, determined to keep his daughter's believe in humanity alive. The grandmother and surviving cousin come across as a bit self absorbed, but this is a worthwhile bit of social history. ( )

Anne Frank....for most of us she is a the writer of an incredible diary, a character portrayed on a stage or by an actress on tv. TREASURES FROM THE ATTIC brings to the forefront those people who embraced her in life. Her family. Those who knew her best and maybe not as well as they thought?
Replete with long lost photos and personal letters, this close-knit family held tight to one another dating back to the 1700's. However the book focuses mainly on Anne's great grandparents, grandparents and cousins.
She becomes real. Which somehow makes her story even sadder.
",,,,life's most important lessons are endurance and bearing up under the blows of fate." ( )

There is no doubt that Anne Frank was an extraordinary writer and human being. Her family, though, until the rise of the Nazis, led very ordinary lives, and these simply do not make for fascinating reading. Yes, absolutely, this material should be recorded because they matter, because every human being matters, but there is really nothing compelling about the material. Were this not about Anne's family, no one would read it.
Unforgivable is the author's decision to "recreate" conversations and invent actions to tell the story. There are already a ridiculous amount of accusations that the Holocaust is fiction, and literary devices used when writing of it are absolutely unnecessary. ( )

Aan de hand van duizenden brieven, documenten en foto’s wordt de geschiedenis van de familie van Anne Frank beschreven.
Het boek volgt drie familieleden van Anne : oma Alice, tante Leni en neef Buddy. Elke zomer kwamen familieleden samen in Zwitserland, ze hingen erg aan elkaar, maar werden door de oorlog over heel Europa verspreid.
Het gezin van tante Leni, de zuster van haar vader Otto, was veilig in Basel en is na de oorlog geschokt, wanneer alleen Otto is overgebleven. Hij maakt er zijn levenswerk van dat de dagboeken van zijn dochter bekend worden. Buddy zegt, dat hij het geld dat de dagboeken opbrachten zelf niet heeft gehouden. Het was hem enkel om de verbreiding van de boodschap van Anne te doen.
Volgens historicus Jan Romein zou zij een begaafde schrijfster geworden zijn, als zij was blijven leven. Op vierjarige leeftijd uit Duitsland gekomen, schreef zij tien jaar later reeds een benijdenswaardig en sober Nederlands en toont een feilloos inzicht in de menselijke natuur.
We leren in dit boek de familierelaties, het leven en de invloed van de Tweede Wereldoorlog op de familie Frank kennen. Uit hun brieven die in het boek zowel in het Duits als Nederlands afgedrukt zijn, blijkt welke impact de dood van Anne, haar zus Margot en haar moeder op de familie hebben.
Dit is niet alleen een goede biografie, maar ook een stuk geschiedenis dat niet vergeten mag worden. ( )