The day Anne turned thirteen, in June of 1942, one important person was not there. Oma had died that winter. Anne said that her birthday didn’t mean much without her granny. But in the Frank family, there was always a lovely birthday party. This year, Anne invited boys and girls. Her mother baked a wonderful cake. And her father screened a movie about a brave dog named Rin Tin Tin.
This was the last real birthday party the Franks ever gave. Anne receive many presents from he family. Books. A jig saw puzzle. A pin. Candy. But there was one gift she treasured most of all. It was a small notebook with a red and green checked cover that locked. On the inside cover Anne placed a photograph of herself. Next to it she wrote: “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”
Anne named her diary “Kitty” after an old friend with that name. Two days after her birthday, Anne made the first entry in her new diary. Every entry started “Dear Kitty.” Anne told Kitty everything—all about a boy she liked named Hello, quarrels she had with her friends, books she had enjoyed. Everything. Kitty was a friend who never argued and always listened.
Less than a month later, there was terrible news to tell Kitty. On a Sunday afternoon in early July 1942, a notice arrived in the mail. Margot was to be sent to a labor camp in Germany! She was ordered to show up at the train station with her belongings and enough food for a three-day trip.
The Nazis had started rounding up groups of Jews for labor camps. Hundreds a day. Edith had thought that Otto might be arrested. But never her daughter. Margot was only sixteen. The Germans had promised not to split up families.
No matter what, Otto and Edith were not letting their daughter be taken away. The only answer was to do what many other Jews were doing. The whole family had to disappear as soon as possible. The next morning at the very latest.
What Anne and her sister didn’t know was that their father had already found a hideout. It was attached to the building where his company offices were. There was a secret stairway leading to a group of rooms.
THE BACK OF THE SECRET ANNEK
For several months, Otto and Edith had been getting the hideout ready. Every night they moved in pieces of furniture, dishes, silverware, bedding. They were careful to bring just a few things at a time. A bathroom with a toilet was built. There was also a stove in the hideout. What the Franks were doing was not unusual. In 1942 and 1943 between twenty and thirty thousand Jews in the Netherlands went into hiding.
That night Margot and Anne packed their school bags with a few personal belongings. Anne put in curlers, hankies, books, a comb, and a few letters. The girls were not told where they were going. Anne could not say good-bye to any of her friends. Otto left a note in the apartment with an address in Switzerland scribbled on it. He wanted people to think the Franks had fled the Netherlands.
The next morning, the girls put on several layers of clothes under their raincoats. It was too dangerous to carry a suitcase. The family closed the door of the home they had lived in for eight years. Anne barely had time to hug her beloved black cat. Anne was sure she would be back home soon. She knew the neighbors would care for little Moortje. Still, her eyes welled with tears.
There was one thing Anne made sure to keep with her. It was in her school bag: her plaid cloth-covered diary.
HERE IS WHAT ANNE WORE: TWO SWEATERS, THREE PAIRS OF PANTS, A DRESS On TOP OF THAT, A SKIRT, A JACKET, SUMMER SHORTS, TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS, LACE-UP SHOES, A CAP, AND A SCARF. |