Anne Frank died in a German concentration camp in 1945. She was 16 years old. She left behind a diary. After the war her father, Otto Frank, who
had miraculously survived the Holocaust tried to find a publisher
for her diary. It wasn't easy.
Following WWII most people wanted to move on, they didn't want to dwell
on the many horrors. Otto Frank kept trying. While his daughter's brief
life eventually became well known with the publication of "The Diary of
Anne Frank," his life, which was a long one, was little known until the
English writer Carol Ann Lee published this book.
During this interview she talked about the biography of Anne Frank that
she published previously and how she had become fascinated with Anne's
tragic, powerful story. During the post-war period, an American woman in
Paris who worked for a publisher was sifting through a slush pile of
manuscripts that had been rejected by other publishers. She came upon
Anne Frank's manuscript, read it, and was mesmerized. She told her boss
that this book had to get out into the world. That was how it happened
and then went on to become the first book to focus attention on the
Holocaust.
That woman's name was Judith Jones. She went on to become an influential editor. In 2015, I interviewed Judith Jones, she had written a cookbook for her dog; "Love Me, Feed Me." During our conversation we talked about how she had discovered "The Diary of Anne Frank."
When we put together this archival program, I included some extra details
about Judith Jones that I learned a dozen years after this interview with Carol Ann Lee. Jones wasn't mentioned in the original conversation.
The Book Nook airs Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO 91.3 FM and streams at WYSO.org or wherever you get your podcasts.The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public Library.
