Watch Rare Footage of Anne Frank Before Her Family Was Forced Into Hiding

Though her life was tragically cut short, Anne Frank left behind a monumental legacy. The diary she kept while living in hiding from 1942 to 1944 is considered one of the most important accounts of the European Jewish experience during World War II. Her most intimate writings are still taught in classrooms today, but images of her are rare. The video below, shot in 1941, is believed to be the only surviving footage of Anne Frank in existence.

This short film, uploaded to YouTube by the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam, was shot less than a year before the Frank family was forced into hiding to avoid Nazi persecution. It shows a bride and groom on their wedding day. The woman getting married lived at No. 37 Merwedeplein and the Franks lived next door at building No 39. At 0:09, you can see a preteen Frank leaning out of her second-story window to get a look at the festivities.

The video captures one of the last moments of normalcy before Frank's life changed forever. In July 1942, her family moved into the attic apartment behind her father's business. They remained hidden there until an anonymous source revealed their location to the Nazis, resulting in their arrest on August 4, 1944. Anne Frank died of typhus in a concentration camp less than a year later at age 15.

Like her famous diary, the clip below shows Frank as an ordinary, curious adolescent girl. It is one of many artifacts the Anne Frank House uses to preserve her memory.