I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl who gained posthumous fame after her personal diary was published in 1947, two years after her death at just 15 years old within the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Frank used the diary as an outlet for her thoughts while hiding with her family in an Amsterdam attic. This uplifting sentiment comes from an entry dated July 15, 1944 — less than one month before Nazi police discovered and arrested Frank and her fellow hideaway occupants. The diary not only serves as crucial historical documentation of the Holocaust, but also offers endearing insights into the young girl’s emotional and familial life in the annex. Her belief in humankind’s inherent goodness, set against the backdrop of the Third Reich’s mass genocide, is heartbreakingly hopeful. Frank’s persistent optimism in the face of such profound tragedy is an empowering reminder of our inexorable ability to focus on the light in even the darkest days.