My Friend Anne Frank

Two best friends' lives were about to change for ever, neither would ever be forgotten...

'As a girl I witnessed the world I loved crumble and vanish, destroyed by senseless hatred, and with it, my best friend Anne'

When Hannah's family flee from the Nazi to Amsterdam, she soon strikes up a friendship with a girl just like her freshly arrived from Germany. Precocious and outspoken, the girl's name is Anne Frank and for seven blissful years the inseparable pair navigate school, boys and coming of age.

Then one day in 1942, as the Nazi occupation intensifies, they are separated without warning. Hannah calls on Anne and can't find a trace of her, breakfast dishes still in the sink, beds unmade. Anne and her family have seemingly vanished. They are told the Franks have fled to Switzerland.

As Hannah is tormented by the fate of her friend, hoping she is alive and well elsewhere, her own family's fate unfolds. After attempts to flee themselves, the SS finally come for them and they are taken to the transit camp Westerbork. Eventually Hannah, her father and younger sister Gabi are transported to Bergen-Belsen. Amid horrific conditions with death all around, it is during Hannah's darkest point at the concentration camp that she hears astonishing of news of Anne. Desperate to save her friend who is weak and struggling to survive, Hannah risks her life to help her.

In an incredible memoir of hope, strength and defiance, Hannah shares the intimate, loving portrait of her friendship with the young diarist who would go on to capture the hearts of millions around the world.

Review

'Vivid and extraordinary' ― The Guardian

'Hannah's story finally completes what Anne could not. It is both heartbreaking and life-affirming, and we need its truth now more than ever.' ― Dr. Edith Eger, author of The Choice

'One of the most moving, profound and important books I've ever read.' ― Rangan Chatterjee

'An extraordinary story of love, loss, and the power of friendship in the darkest time. This book, like its author, is an essential companion to Anne Frank's life.' ― Jack Fairweather, Costa Prizewinning author of The Volunteer

'This miraculous wartime memoir is deeply affecting because it is the story of two normal girls' ― The Sunday Times

About the Author

Hannah Pick-Goslar, known as Hanneli to her friends and as 'Lies Goosens' in her dear friend Anne Frank's diary, was born in Berlin 1928, as the eldest child of Jewish parents, Hans Goslar and Ruth Judith Klee. In 1933, after the election of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, the Goslars moved to Amsterdam. After the Nazi occupation of Europe intensified, in 1943, Hannah and her family were arrested and sent to Westerbork transit camp, before being transported to Bergen-Belsen. Hannah survived 14 months of horrific conditions and hardship before the camp was liberated in 1945. She emigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1947 and trained as a nurse. Once retired, Hannah enjoyed the company of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She passed away in 2022 at the age of 93.