The play, The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, is based on the famous diary of Anne Frank, which was written by her when in hiding during the Holocaust. The Holocaust took place in the late 1930's and early 1940's when Adolph Hitler became the dictator of Germany. He wanted to create a master race, which concluded that all Jews must be terminated from the world. Anne Frank was Jewish along with the other occupants of the Annex which consisted of, Mr. And Mrs. Frank, their two daughters, Anne and Margot; Mr. And Mrs. Van Daan, their son Peter; and Albert Dussel. They lived in fear for two years.
Mr. Van Daan was a very selfish man, although he was very content for the first part of the play. When he realized that they were going to be locked up in this Secret Annex for a long time he began to become very greedy and hard to get along with.
English: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank o...
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959 film)
167He was always bickering with his wife and never gave anyone a fair chance to get a glimpse of his good side. When Dussel came to the Annex, Mr. Van Daan was not very excited about the idea of having another occupant in the Annex. At one occasion he said to Dussel, "Did Mr. Kraler warn you that you won't get much to eat here? You can imagine...three rations among the seven of us...and now you make eight." Mr. Van Daan was a large man so not having food was probably the hardest on him.
Also, Mr. Van Daan was caught stealing food late at night one time. Everyone knew that he had been stealing on many occasions before he actually got caught, while all that Mr. Van Daan could say was, "I'm hungry." Although...