Margot, Margot, Margot... The Original Marcia?

Margot and Anne Frank at the beach

Do you have an older sibling? A sibling that your parents used as an example when you might not have been behaving at your absolute best? If not,  have you at least seen the famous Brady Bunch episode where Jan gets angry that Marcia is getting all the attention and finally cries out in teen angst, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!!!"

Welcome to Margot Frank's world. I already knew she was a straight-A student and it has also been said more than once she was a model young lady. It also appears as if she, as many other big sisters, served as an example to Anne in how she should act. Anne writes in her diary more than once about how her parents ask her to act more like Margot. In our play script for "The Diary of Anne Frank," Anne protests as she runs out of the room, "Margot is perfect... I'll NEVER be Margot!" I wonder how soon and often Margot got frustrated by this, knowing she wasn't indeed perfect. I wonder, though described as quiet and reserved, what she wrote about in her diary concerning this frequent comparison.

I do not have a little sister. In fact, I only have two brothers (one older and one younger). Sarah, who is playing Anne in our production, recently told me she also doesn't have a sister either. I have a feeling we will soon learn a little more about what having a sister is like. Simply rehearsing our "sister scenes" that in real life took place in such a tiny attic space, has shown me a bit about their sisterly dynamics and fireworks.  Through my research of the relationship between Anne and Margot, I see the sibling rivalry between them was intense at times. It couldn't be helped that all issues and grievances were magnified so greatly in such a small space occupied by eight people.

Margot and Anne Frank

  
Miep Gies, one of the "helpers" who hid the Frank family in the attic space above Otto Frank's business, described Margot as very different from firecracker Anne: "Margot had a way of making herself invisible. She never got in the way, she made no demands" (Miep Gies, Anne Frank Remembered). There was a three year difference between Anne and Margot, and the distinctions between their personalities also become obvious in Anne's writings. Anne wrote in her diary: "I don't get along with Margot very well either. Even though our family never has the same kind of outbursts as they do upstairs, I find it far from pleasant. Margot's and Mother's personalities are so alien to me." (Anne Frank, Diary of a Young Girl).

Despite all the fireworks and quiet struggles that went on in their relationship, I observe a great bond of sisterly love between Anne and Margot. There were times in the Annexe they sat and bonded over their dreams, hopes, and everyday struggles. They wrote notes to each other during their time in hiding. Margot proved herself to not only be a "good example," but someone who understood her younger sister more than Anne probably realized.  I see maturity and sweetness in the way she reacted to and tried to help Anne in her oftentimes emotionally impulsive outbursts toward her and others. I see her trying to help Anne understand the situation and herself better, in an extremely trying emotional and physical environment. And as her life in the Annexe unfolded, Anne matured from a young girl into a woman. I believe she eventually realized that Margot was not just an older sister but a desperately needed friend, someone to hold onto-- literally for dear life.

There are of course no records written by Margot or Anne after being taken from their hiding place, after being transported to the work/concentration camps where they both eventually died of typhus. But I imagine their experience together in such close quarters became a treasure of comfort and nourishment to both of them in their last months of life.