Dating the "Last" Photos of Anne Frank
Offsite example of a "last" photo, and another photo. another is possibly on the cover of The Definitive Edition of the diary
For album photos, see the Getty images archive

There are a number of photos of Anne Frank that are said to be among the last. No one knows when some were taken, but we can make observations and carefully make some logical deductions to narrow down the date range. After ruling out some "last" photos that actually can be dated, I explore in detail why I think the remaining "last" photos were taken between the autumn of 1940 and the autumn of 1942, and speculate on specific times they may have been taken.
    First off, sometimes people are mistaken about when a photo was taken. For instance, even books can be wrong: Carol Ann Lee's Hidden Life of Otto Frank has a photo said to be taken "shortly before the family went into hiding," but it is clearly part of the May 1941 photo session (marked "Mei 1941" — you can see two of these, from the Frank photo albums, including their dates, at gettyimages.com/archival — carefully compare her dress and hair length, the lighting and background). The Frank family went into hiding over a year later. Another example is in Anne Frank: the Biography where a photo said to be taken in 1942 is actually labeled in a photo album as 1941. I trust the Franks knew what years photos were taken.

Notes about the remaining "last" photos: All are indoor photos. Anne's hair is a little longer than usual. (This is significant because hair grows one inch per 2.5 months.) Anne's face seems to be lightly freckled (except in one, where the contrast is so pronounced you cannot see any marks on her face). They are good photos: lit well. The lighting seems to be by sunlight. The light comes from the left side of the photo. Anne is facing the light (except in the same exception above, where she faces the camera, if that is indeed from the same sitting). Anne is wearing a lacy shiny shirt with gathers, the neckline fairly snug. One photo includes Margot (to the left of Anne) wearing a knitted top. The top of Anne's head comes up to the level of Margot's eyes. Margot's top is clearly visible and has no yellow star. Anne is calm but not really smiling and not looking into the camera. (The exception above applies here, too, if it was indeed from the same sitting, she is amused and looks right at the camera.)

Painting of one "last" photo. see photo offsite

These photos also do not seem to appear in photo albums. That does not mean they were not in any albums, just that I haven't seen them in that context. But if they were not in any albums, it raises the question of why. Miep was not said to be up in the annexe searching for photos, but she did take the photo albums and if the "last" photos were in the open, easy to grab, she probably took them, too. For example, the photos could have been stored in Otto's briefcase with Anne's diaries and so would be on the floor with her papers. For that matter, the photos could have been tucked into photo albums, just not fastened into them. Alternatively, the photos could have been in someone else's posession at the time of the annexe raid.

The first four similarities suggest that those remaining "last" photos (possibly excluding that one exception that kept coming up) were all taken during one sitting one day.
    Below I go into detail about why I think those photos could have been taken as early as the autumn of 1940 and as late as the autumn of 1942. Anne was between 11 and 13 years old during that period, which seems to fit the age she looks in those photos.

Attempting to pin down possible times:

1. in late 1940: similar hairstyle as in the previous summer's roof sunning photos
2. December 1941: in costume during her days rehearsing playing a princess in a play
3. sometime in 1942 (perhaps in April or very early May: taking a few photos just before having to sew yellow stars on all their clothes)

Discussion:

There is one dated photo that I know of where Anne's hair is about as long as in these photos, and in a strikingly similar style: The photo of her smiling on their roof with a large hat on her lap (see AF:BTD p. 40). It shows her hair equally long and with the same large smooth swoop on top, pinned back in the same way. That photo was taken in 1940 and she is clearly dressed for summer weather. Her face seems lightly freckled. She is wearing a different shirt than in the "last" photos, but it could have been during the same summer. Anne may have let her hair grow during that summer. Back in May, her hair was shorter. Perhaps by late August when it was still hot enough for summer clothes, her hair had grown noticeably longer. Hair grows faster in hot weather. However, it's a bit hard to tell how long her hair is in most of these photos because she is tilting her head down. Because of the slow rate of hair growth, it seems unlikely that her hair could have grown from the length it was in May to the length it was in the "last" photos until the fall or winter.
    Because she looks too young in 1939, I doubt that the "last" photos could have been taken many months earlier than the summer of 1940.
    Since the spring of 1934, the Frank family photos had all been taken outdoors, except for school portraits, passport head shots, and the "last" photos. The Franks probably did not have flash and tended to rely on sunlight. Even before 1934, photos were almost always outdoors (most indoor photos during that period were from professional sittings and photo booth photos).
    The strange shirt Anne wears in the "last" photos is shiny and has a lot of ribbon or lace sewn onto it, with gathers. It could be a costume. Anne played a princess in a play in December 1941 (see AFB p. 134-5). Being a schoolgirl, outdoors on a regular basis, her skin could have been lightly freckled even at that time of year. However, most of these photos look subdued, not theatrical. But one is engagingly amused (see the cover of the Definitive Edition of the diary) and I think the play was a comedy. (There are no play photos I know about that are labeled as such.)
    The Franks took many pictures of their daughters, but 1942 is different. The only photographs from 1942 that I know about are from May: passport photos. Did something happen? If so, when? It is possible that, if something happened, it was actually in 1941. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell at what times during the year the 1941 photos were taken. Starting on 31 May 1941, Jews were prohibited from parks (and a host of other places — see HLOF p. 327-9). Restrictions against Jews had been imposed and increased since shortly after the Germans invaded Holland a year earlier. Anne later wrote in her diary that everyone was afraid to do anything, fearing it was prohibited. Perhaps the Franks thought it best to not risk loitering outdoors just to take photos.
    Then, in 1942, Jews were forbidden to take pictures, though pictures could be taken of Jews (AF:BTD p. 37), which explains the passport photos from that year. No one had to know they took photos if they were taken indoors and if they either found someone to clandestinely develop them or developed them at home.
    (Note that the years of 1936 and 1939 also had few photos. I count four from 1936 and four from 1939. 1942 could have been another sparse year for Frank family photos.)
    On 3 May 1942, all Jews were required to wear a yellow star prominently on their clothing (see HLOF p. 330). The Frank parents surely would not want to have photos of their children wearing something that singled them out for persecution, so they could have taken the time to take photos shortly before they sewed yellow stars on all their clothes. Obviously, this also suggests a date for the photos: April or early May. However, it could also be that they took the photos later, using neglected clothes that they hadn't bothered to sew stars on. (Note that there is no star visible in Anne's passport photos [May 1942]. But it's likely that the stars were too low to be seen.)
    Moving forward in time, I do not think the photos were taken while Anne was in hiding unless it was early on. Anne is just as much shorter than Margot as she was in 1941, when they were about 15 and 12 years old: Anne comes up to the level of Margot's eyes. At 12, Anne was toward the start of her growth spurt, while Margot was toward the end of hers. There is proof of this: the girls' ongoing height measurements were left on a wall in the secret annexe. Anne grew at least 13cm (over five inches) while in hiding, catching up with Margot, who grew very little. Just over half of Anne's recorded growth — 6.5cm — was done by 22 February 1943 (the measurements started on 18 Sept '42, so there was doubtless even more growth between July and September especially since Anne mentioned her growth early on — 18 Oct 1942 — she gained 17 pounds in the first three months in hiding — see AF:BTD p. 73; and AFH p. 34 which shows both of their measurements). If the photos were taken while in hiding, the large height discrepancy strongly suggests that they were taken early on in hiding. (This is especially true if the girls were actually sitting in the photos, but all bets are off if one is wearing high heels or they are on stairs. All of these possibilities seem unlikely because the Franks usually took group pictures of people standing on flat ground.)
    Further, someone described the Franks' faces as "white as paper" when they arrived at Westerbork in August 1944 (FAF p. 123). This makes sense: they had not been outdoors, so the sun could not have tanned or freckled them at all. Because Anne's face in the "last" photos was lightly freckled, it is unlikely that those photos were taken any later than the fall of 1942 when she would have little, if any, coloring from the previous July.
    These observations rather rule out the speculation that the "last" photos were taken in January 1944 when Anne made a "supermodern dance frock" from her mother's old purple petticoat and assorted lace trim (see Anne's 12 Jan 1944 diary entry). Even in 1943, Anne was not that much shorter than Margot (see measurement discussion above).
    Therefore, during the summer and fall of 1942, it is possible that the photos were taken within the secret annexe or elsewhere in the building, via sunlight coming through sheer curtains. They would not have risked sitting in direct sunlight, however, because someone from outside could have seen. They could have sat in direct sunlight in one of the attics, where the chance of being seen was very slim, however they do not appear to be in an attic in these photos. However, Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary asserts that no pictures were taken during the period in hiding (p. 37).

I'll close with what I tend to believe, my own theory and my speculation of who the photographer was. I tend to believe that the photos are from December 1941. They were taken of the play actors and other related teens, such as Margot. The photos, being of several teens, not just Anne and Margot Frank, were in the possession of the person who had wanted photos of the players and had arranged it. When the annexe was raided, the photos were not there, but were revealed after Anne's fame spread.
    A further speculation I'd like to add: Due to the prohibition on Jews taking photos, and the fact that the photos are quite well done despite being indoors, I speculate that the photographer was probably a Jewish friend among those involved in the play, an adult experienced in both taking photos without direct sunlight and in developing film. (If the photographer was not Jewish, s/he could have taken the photos outdoors, because it was permitted to photograph Jews as long as the photographer was not Jewish. Further, it could explain the strange air most of these photos have, a sense of clandestineness would fit. Although I know of one photographer among the Franks' friends, Arond Stoppelman, it could not have been him because he had escaped the country by then.)

HLOF is The Hidden Life of Otto Frank, by Carol Ann Lee.
AF:BTD is Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary, by van der Rol and Verhoeven for the Anne Frank House.
AFB is Anne Frank: the Biography, by Melissa Müller.
FAF is The Footsteps of Anne Frank, by Ernst Schnabel.
AFH is The Anne Frank House: a museum with a story

Thanks to an old high school pal for the painting.

Last Update: 13 July 2005