Children Vs. Adults In Hitter's War

In July 15, 1944 a young girl called Anne Frank wrote this statement “…if you’re wondering if it’s harder for the adults here than for the children, the answer is no… older people have an opinion about everything and are sure of themselves and their actions. It is twice as hard for us young people to hold on to our opinions at a time when ideals are being shattered…” (July 15, 1944) Anne Frank was one of the many children involved in Hitter’s war, and She is one of the many children who wrote a diary of her experiences with this. The quote is stating the hardship of children vs. adults. The children didn’t know most of what was happening, and she is stating that the older people were more understanding of the situation they were in.

The younger children like Anne Frank, had opinions on things, and at that time being a child, you may as well not have opinions or ideas on anything. The adults were seen as the smarter ones and children’s opinion wouldn’t have mattered, and they would have been ignored. When Anne stated “…It is twice as hard for us young people to hold on to our opinions at a time when ideals are being shattered…” this could be meaning that it is also hard to have an opinion when everything is
changing and you don’t understand a lot of what’s going on around you and being frightened all the time.

At one point in the novel, Anne writes "It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." This proves that Anne still had an opinion but she was forced to refrain her ideals despite the circumstances she went through. This was written before many horrible things she went through; therefore this is her earlier opinion on ‘them’ being the Nazis. In the quote Anne says “It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out.” This suggests that even if Anne had an opinion on something, it wouldn’t matter because she would have to do what she was told anyway. Also she may have thought herself silly because her ideal may seem ridiculous being in the situation she was in.
When Anne and the others were in hiding, her parents may have been telling her things to help her if they were taken away to a concentration camp, without Anne realising it.
This is shown through the quote “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.". This is an interesting quote because, when Anne was naughty, her parents would punish her, therefore teaching her not to do bad things anymore for when she grows up. This would come into play when they were at the concentration camp, that Anne had to take that into her own account and learn for herself not to disobey any orders, by doing this she was doing what she was told and did not have time for an
opinion.

It would have been hard for the adults as much as it was for the kids. The adults would have been scared for their kids and would have had to lie a fair bit to them, or tell them the best case scenario, to not scare them as much, for the adults had a better idea about what horrible things were ahead. But, the kids would have had found it frustrating not being able to express themselves. The kids would have sensed the tension in the parents though, and may have heard late night conversations as to what may happen.

Therefore the kids and adults shared the same hardship, but from different perspectives. Both found hardship, suffering differently from the same events. Anne’s quote “…if you’re wondering if it’s harder for the adults here than for the children, the answer is no… older people have an opinion about everything and are sure of themselves and their actions. It is twice as hard for us young people to hold on to our opinions at a time when ideals are being shattered…” (July 15, 1944) was just from her perspective of the situation.