The story of the Holocaust isn?t something that has faded into our history like past presidents and moon landings. Because of the extreme savageness of Nazi Germany, to hear the story is like a fresh blow every time.

“Anne Frank,” a television miniseries airing on the ABC network, takes on the tragic story of Anne Frank, the teenager who struggled to live a normal life in German-occupied Amsterdam during the war.

The drama tells of Anne Frank?s idyllic childhood before the war, her blooming adolescence amidst a war-torn Amsterdam, and her last months of life during captivity.

“Anne Frank” shows its audience the “secret annex” where she, her family and many others hid from the Nazis for over two years, during which Anne struggles to get along with her mother, falls in love and tries to make sense of the tragedy unfolding around her.

The film goes into detail about what happens to Anne and the others hiding after the Gestapo raid the annex. As Miep Gies, one of the Frank family?s main protectors, struggles to release them, the group is sent to Westerbork Transit Camp for a few weeks before being transferred to Auschwitz by cattle car.

Once at the infamous concentration camp, Anne is separated from her father and her love Peter, both of whom are sent away with the other men. Anne, her mom, and her sister Margot learn to rely on each other for comfort and survival as they face hard labor, freezing conditions, starvation, disease and the constant threat of the gas chamber.

Based on journalist Melissa Muller?s biography of Anne Frank, the program goes a step further to bring an incredible authenticity to the screen by basing it on interviews with friends and family members of those who were in hiding, and for the first time in a television drama on this subject, the identity of the Franks? betrayers is revealed, as well as how the betrayal played out.

The miniseries was shot in Prague, Czech Republic where it re-creates the entire secret annex as well as Prinsengracht, the picturesque street where it was located.

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Taylor Gordon, who has played opposite Robin Williams in “Jakob the Liar,” plays the title role of Anne Frank. She says, “I want people to remember her by what I?m doing.” Gordon had read portions of Anne Frank?s diary in school, but became much more familiar with her story after being cast as Frank. She says she feels a kinship with Anne because she sees her as a “normal girl.”

Also leading the cast is Ben Kingsley, best known for his title role in “Gandhi,” for which he won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actor, and as Itzhak Stern in “Schlindler?s List.” Kingsley plays Otto Frank, Anne?s father and the only one of the eight Jews hiding in the secret annex to survive the concentration camps.

Miep Gies, the Frank family?s main protector, is played by Lili Taylor, who got her start opposite Julia Roberts in “Mystic Pizza.”

The real-life Miep Gies, who was the one to find Anne?s diary and return it to her father after her death, worked as a consultant to the film. Other consultants included two of Anne Frank?s closest childhood friends, Jacque Van Maarsen Sanders and Hannah Goslar, and Otto Frank?s longtime friend Cor Suijk.

Golden-Globe winner Brenda Blethyn plays Auguste Van Pels, a flamboyant and insecure woman who hid, along with her husband and son, with the Franks. Blethyn is best known for her recent movie, “Secrets and Lies,” for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Popular German TV actress Tatjana Blacher plays Edith Frank, Anne?s mother, Jessica Manley plays Margot Frank, Nick Audsley plays Anne?s sweetheart Peter Van Pels, Joachim Krol, a highly-regarded actor in Germany, plays Herman Van Pels, and Golden-Globe winner Jan Niklas is Fritz Pfeffer.

“Anne Frank” will air Sunday, May 20, and Monday, May 21 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. eastern time both nights.