Publisher Contact Prinsengracht - Amsterdam

For Anne Frank, her diary is the light in the darkness. She affectionately calls her little red-checked book ‘Kitty’ and to ‘her’ she can express all her feelings and concoctions: ‘The nicest thing is to write to you anyway, you know that and I hope it's mutual’

These are long days with the other hiders in the Secret Annex. They read and study a lot and, of course, there is cooking to be done. Rules within the family are important to make it bearable for everyone. There are happy moments too. Parties and birthdays go on and humour keeps everyone going. Anne writes about this in her diary on 26 May 1944: ‘One day we laugh at the drollness of the hiding situation, but the next day and many more days we are afraid, fear, tension and despair are written on our faces.’

We further read that Anne, to her own surprise, fell in love with 17-year-old Peter van Pels, one of the other hiders in the Secret Annex. He is a grateful subject in young Anne's diary. At first she does not like this boy very much, but over time the two grow closer. Anne takes the initiative in this; she wants to talk to someone about her feelings. They discuss puberty issues, the war situation, their parents and dreams for the future. In the attic of the Secret Annex, both find the privacy they need. Yet after a while Anne realises that Peter is not the friend she had hoped for.

In this highly unusual situation, the young woman's life and development, in search of her own identity, goes on as usual. Throughout all the worries, this bright adolescent girl has an already particularly mature outlook on life, coloured by experiences during the oppressive war years. Not only does she paint a picture of life inside the walls of the Secret Annexe. Anne also writes about the deeds of the Dutch Resistance. The heroes of the Resistance, who risked their lives every day to save as many people as possible, through spionage, sabotage and other activities that thwarted the occupying forces. The people in hiding in the Secret Annex closely follow the news. The Soviet Union succeeded in pushing back German troops from 1943, and in 1944 the Allies advanced from the coast of Normandy. ‘Friends approaching,’ writes an overjoyed Anne in her diary. Margot tells Anne that there is a good chance she might be able to go back to school by September 1944.

When the first diary is full, she continues writing in notebooks. Two years later, the then 15-year-old Anne rewrites many passages because she wants to publish the book after the war. Her dream is to become a writer and journalist. The title should be ‘The Secret Annexe’. At the time, the Dutch government in exile called on the oppressed Dutch population to keep diaries, notes and documents. This way, everyone can document the Nazi occupation.

On Friday 4 August 1944, a car stops in front of Prinsengracht 263 at the end of the morning. An SS-Oberscharführer called Karl Josef Silberbauer, and several Dutch policemen get out and walk to the entrance of the building. The people in hiding turn out to have been betrayed. All eight hiders and two helpers (Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman) are arrested. As Silberbauer empties Otto Frank's briefcase to use it for jewellery and other valuables of the people in hiding, Anne's diary papers are saved. They fall to the ground and are secured by helpers Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl.

Otto Frank, Anne's father, decides to publish the diary after the war, exactly as Anne would have wanted. Publishing house Contact, now Atlas Contact at Prinsengracht 911-915, published the book. Years later, Anne's diary would become a major Dutch literary work, inspiring the lives of millions. Her voice was heard by thousands worldwide and her faith in humanity spread on the wings of hope.

Photos: ©Anne Frank House, Amsterdam