My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar with Dina Kraft is a powerful and heartbreaking account of a time of great evil. The book is written by one of Anne Frank’s closest friends who also fled Germany for Amsterdam in order to be safe. Hannah Pick-Goslar lived in the same apartment block as Anne Frank and they were in the same class at school.
The author tells of life before the war and of life as it was gradually eroded for the Jewish people.
Even before captivity Hannah Pick-Goslar faced personal tragedy as she was forced to grow up and become mother to her two year old sister.
As the grip of the Nazis tightened on Jewish lives, the author, her sister, father and grandparents were all interred at Westerbork. The only thing that saved them from even harsher treatment was their passports for Israel. Many months later they would be transferred to Bergen Belsen which was hell on earth. We hear of the awful conditions which just got worse and worse. It is in Belsen that Hannah Pick-Goslar briefly met Anne Frank who was in even worse conditions with her sister Margo. The optimistic Anne was broken, without hope, believing all her family had perished. Had she known her father Otto was alive, she would have had hope.
Hannah Pick-Goslar and her sister were put on the ‘lost train’ which wandered for nearly two weeks before liberation by the Russians.
It was a long trek back to Amsterdam, before briefly joining relatives in Switzerland. The author then fulfilled her father’s wishes and travelled to Israel, only to later be caught up in the Jewish Palestinian war. Her sister would later join Hannah Pick-Goslar when she was old enough.
Hannah Pick-Goslar made it her life’s mission to tell everyone about the Holocaust, in memory of the six million innocents. She believed in keeping their memory alive. Even in lockdown, and in her nineties, Hannah Pick-Goslar spoke to children on Zoom.
Hannah Pick-Goslar was an amazingly brave teenager who endured so much. To her dying breath, aged ninety three, she spoke of the Holocaust, to educate future generations and to keep memories alive. She said of Anne Frank: she was “a symbol… of all the hope and promise that was lost to hatred and murder.”
At the end of the book, we hear of the fates of all of Anne Frank’s friends – only Hannah Pick-Goslar survived, all the others were murdered by the Nazi regime. It is beyond awful. It is beyond heartbreaking. It should never have been allowed to happen. All those lives lost. This book must be read in memory of the six million innocents. We must never forget.
I received a free copy. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Heartbreaking, fascinating, eye opening and such a strong friendship. I adored this, I am fascinated with the history of Anne Frank and was lovely to see another perspective

Hannah Pick-Goslar what an amazing woman you were! This book is such an important read along with Anne Frank's Diary. I cannot put into words the effect this book had on me except that a lot of tears were shed. I will be highly recommending this book to everyone.

"My Friend Anne Frank: The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds" is a powerful and moving memoir by Holocaust survivor Hannah Pick-Goslar. The book offers an intimate look into her life and enduring friendship with Anne Frank, both before and after they went into hiding.

The narrative begins in 1933 when Hannah and her family fled Nazi Germany for Amsterdam, where she formed a close bond with Anne, her next-door neighbor. The two girls enjoyed a carefree childhood until the Nazi occupation changed their lives in 1942. Anne and her family disappeared, leaving behind unanswered questions for Hannah.

The memoir chronicles Hannah's experiences during the Holocaust, from the introduction of anti-Jewish laws in Amsterdam to her family's imprisonment in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The story provides a searing look at the hardships endured by children under the Nazi regime and offers a never-before-seen portrait of Anne Frank.

Hannah's firsthand account is hailed as the missing piece to Anne's story, offering a complete picture of their friendship. The book underscores the importance of reading primary accounts from Holocaust survivors, particularly as their numbers dwindle. The belief that the Franks had escaped to Switzerland gave Hannah hope, but grappling with Anne's disappearance without a word was a challenging experience.

My Friend Anne Frank is a truly moving account of the author's life and friendship with Anne. The friendship between Hannah and Anne, forged during such a dark and dangerous time, is highlighted as something beautiful. The book is recommended for those seeking to learn more about Anne Frank, Germany, and Holland during WWII, the Jewish community in Holland, the concentration camps, and life after the war.

In essence, Hannah Pick-Goslar's memoir is described as both heartbreaking and life-affirming, providing an essential perspective on one of the darkest periods in history.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this great opportunity to read and review the arc copy.

A great insight into the life of Anne Frank and her family told by a friend and neighbour.

Obviously not as good as Anne Frank’s own book, but historically interesting nevertheless

I loved reading this book because I wanted to know more about Anne Frank and about the author's experiences during the Holocaust. It was incredibly hard to read some of the chapters but there was also a deep sense of hope within the pages. A memorable read that will stay with me for years to come.

A wonderfully moving and insightful read. An unique eyeopener into such a significant time in history & ultimately a story about friendship and human resilience.

This novel is a deeply moving and eminently readable story .I have a quite a few books about the holocaust and this is one of the best
Anne Frank‘s diary is a course a very well known and most of us of have read it.. this novel looks at the story from the point of view of a friend of Anne’s who survived the holocaust.
The novel was written by the central character herself with help from another author.
Historical novels run, the risk of sometimes seeming like a list of facts and occurrences, rather than reading, as well as this one does as a self-contained story . I very much enjoyed reading this book. The authors have a clear easily read prose style and the subject is compelling. Whereas the story of the Holocaust is of course, ghastly and shocking book managers, also to be optimistic and uplifting.
I was particularly interested to read of the authors early years in Israel, then the newly formed home of the Jewish people. At the current there is a horrendous war in Gaza and it was interesting to read about the authors families involvement in setting up the Jewish homeland.
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. It was released in the UK on sixth of June 2023 by little brown spark,

This review will appear on Goodreads, NetGalley, UK, and my book blog bionicsarahsbooks.Wordpress.Com

A really moving autobiographical account that brings the suffering of so many Jews to life. Rich in practical details that convey the terrible atmosphere of unspeakable things that formed their everyday experience. Interesting to read this while the fighting rages in Gaza and tensions between Jews and Palestinians are so high; the book shows the longing of Zionists for the land of Israel but mentions the dissatisfaction of Palestinian Arabs at the partition of "their" land. This book is a must-read.

My Friend Anne Frank is an insightful and thought-provoking read, of friendship, heartbreak and human resilience. A book that should be read by many and never forgotten as it's a vital piece of world history from a remarkable woman who lived through it.

Who doesn't know or heard about Anne Frank? So when a book called
My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar came out I had to find time to open my kindle and read it, to learn more about this Anne frank etc. Once read to sit back and reflect on what I have read.

This book was just .......I am lost for words but so glad I had a chance to read it and for Hannah Pick-Goslar to write this book, for her to tell her story before she sadly passed away peacefully in October 2022.
This was an amazing real life story which was beautifully told and this is Hannah's story, of her early friendship with Anne Frank in the early days.
Hannah Pick-Goslar was only five years old and her family fled Nazi Germany to live in Amsterdam, she soon struck up a friendship with a precocious, outspoken and fun-loving girl named Anne Frank. For several blissful years, the girls were inseparable, enjoying carefree childhood games and sleepovers in their neighbourhood of Rivierenbuurt.

Then, one day in 1942, two best friends, who were like sisters lives were about to change for ever. The Nazi occupation intensified, Anne and the Frank family vanished. Hannah puzzled over the fate of her best friend, hoping she was safe, her own family's fate began to unfold: they were captured and taken to Westerbork transit camp, before being transported to Bergen-Belsen.

This book is amazing and this is a story that should never be forgotten and a must for schools.

Big thank you to Netgalley and Ebury Publishing, Penguin Random House, Rider for my ARC.

This gave a new insight in to the life of Anna Frank, as well as being a story of love, family, friendship and hope. A very special book that needs to be read.

Having read the diary of Anne Frank I was really drawn to this title and it completely met my expectations. It was incredibly moving and gave you even more insight into the events of the holocaust

It almost feels wrong to rate a book on a subject like this, but Hannah's story is very compelling in the way that it not only tells of her own experience but also 'bookends' the writings of Anne Frank by discussing her life before and after the secret annexe. Similar to Anne's diary, I was surprised by some of the warmer and more humorous sections of the book, and have come to find it important that the modern reader really gets a sense of the whole mix of feelings and attitudes that existed at the time of writing. A truly inspiring story that I would highly recommend everyone to pick up and read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this early access copy.

A fascinating book by Hannah Pick-Goslar who knew Anne Frank when she was a child. The book provided further details about Anne Frank's childhood but I was just as interested to learn about the author's experiences growing up in World War II.

I've read a number of books about Anne so I was a bit worried that this one would re hash everything. I didn't need to worry. A lovely memoir from her friend. Highly recommended.

Decide not to read this book as when I started it, it was more about the friend than Anne Frank herself.

What a beautifully written book and how vividly it brought to life that terrible time. Highly emotional yet never self pitying despite the deprivation and loss suffered.

Books like this should be compulsory reading for the youth of today.

In this moving memoir, Hannah Pick-Goslar narrates her extraordinary life from the time she and her parents moved from Germany in the wake of Hitler's rise to power and their new life in Amsterdam to the start of WW2 and the increased tensions and fear Jewish people felt all over the world, and the Gosslar's family incarceration in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Through the horror, Hannah holds on to her happy memories with her family and her friends, including Anne Frank whose diary would become famous following her death.

This was a brilliant book, and really well written and paced. Hannah's story is so hard to read at times and it's so hard to believe that these atrocities happened and not just to her family but to millions of Jewish people, and others Hitler opposed. But Hannah's strength, intelligence and positive attitude prevails throughout the story even as she is faced with increased restrictions as a Jewish person in the Netherlands, the death of her beloved mother and their her teenage years snatched away due to her imprisonment in the camps. I loved Hannah's family from her mother and father, to her gentle grandparents and her ever loving aunts and uncles living abroad and always searching for trapped family. I also really felt emotional at Hannah's relationship with Otto Frank following the war and how he helped the girl who was his daughter's best friend and he became a grandfather figure for her children.

I just thought this was a brilliant book, and Dina Kraft who wrote this book for Hannah Pick-Gosslar did an amazing job and helped a wonderful woman put her unbelievable life journey into words to share with the world.

A very good book. It was quite an emotional read and gave an insight in to their lives and experiences.