FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1944J Dear Kitty,"If yoing to the attic, take an umbrel with you, preferably a rge one!" This is to protect you from "household showers." Theres a Dutch proverb: "High and dry, safe and sound," but it obviously doesnt apply to wartime (guns!) and to people in hiding (cat box!). Mouschis gotten into the habit of relieving herself on some neers or between the cracks in the floor boards, so we have good reason to fear the sptters and, even worse, the stench. The new Moortje in the warehouse has the same problem. Anyone whos ever had a cat thats not housebroken imagihe smells, other than pepper and thyme, that permeate this house.I also have a brand-new prescription futers: When the shootis loud, proceed to the wooden staircase. Run up and down a few times, making sure to stumble at least once. What with the scratches and the noise of running and falling, you wont even be able to hear the shooting, much less worry about it. Yours truly has put this magiu to use, with great success!Yours, AnneM. FrankMONDAY, JUNE 5, 1944Dearest Kitty,New problems in the Annex. A quarrel between Dussel and the Franks over thedivision of butter. Capitution on the part of Dussel. Close friendship betweeer and Mrs. van Daan, flirtations, kisses and friendly little smiles. Dussel is beginning to long for female panionship.The van Daans dont see why we should bake a spice cake for Mr. Kuglers birthday when we t have one ourselves. All very petty. Mood upstairs: bad. Mrs. van D.has a cold. Dussel caught with brewers yeast tablets, while weve got he Fifth Army has taken Rome. The city her destroyed nor bombed. Great propaganda for Hitler.Very few potatoes aables. One loaf of bread was moldy.Scharmije (name of new warehouse cat) t stand pepper. She sleeps i box and does her business in the wood shavings. Impossible to keep her.Bad weather. tinuous bombing of Pas de Cais and the west coast of Frano one buying dold even less iing.The bottom of our bck moneybox is in sight. What are we going to live o month?Yours, AnneM. FrankTUESDAY, JUNE 6, 1944My dearest Kitty,"This is D Day," the BBou twelve."This is the day." The invasion has begun!This m at eight the British reported heavy bombing of Cais, Boulogne, Le Havre and Cherb, as well as Pas de Cais (as usual). Further, as a precautionary measure for those in the occupied territories, everyone living within a zone of twenty miles from the coast was waro prepare for bombardments. Where possible, the British will drop pamphlets an hour ahead of time.Acc to the German news, British paratroopers have nded on the coast of France. "British nding craft are engaged in bat with German naval units,"acc to the BBclusion reached by the Annex while breakfasting at his is a trial nding, like the owo years ago in Dieppe.BBC broadcast in German, Dutch, Frend uages at ten: The invasion has begun! So this is the "real" invasion. BBC broadcast in German at eleven: speech by Supreme ander General Dwight Eisenhower.BBC broadcast in English: "This is 0 Day." General Eisenhower said to the French people: "Stiff fighting will e now, but after this the victory. The year 1944 is the year of plete victood luck!”BBC broadcast in English at one: 11,000 pnes are shuttling bad forth or standing by to nd troops and bomb behind enemy lines; 4,000 nding craft and small boats are tinually arriving in the area between Cher- b and Le Havre. English and Ameri troops are already engaged in heavy bat. Speeches by Gerbrandy, the Prime Minister of Belgium, King Haakon of Norway, de Gaulle of Frahe King of Engnd and, st but not least, Churchill.A huge otion in the Annex! Is this really the beginning of the long-awaited liberation? The liberation weve all talked so much about, which still seems too good, too much of a fairy tale ever to e true? Will this year, 1944, bring us victory? We dont know yet. But where theres hope, theres life. It fills us with fresh ce and makes us strong again. Well o be brave to ehe many fears and hardships and the sufferio e. Its now a matter of remaining calm and steadfast, of gritting our teeth and keeping a stiff upper lip! France, Russia, Italy, and even Germany, cry out in agony, but we do have that right!Oh, Kitty, the best part about the invasion is that I have the feeling that friends are on the way. Those terrible Germans have oppressed and threatened us for so long that the thought of friends and salvation means everything to us! Now its not just the Jews, but Holnd and all of occupied Europe. Maybe, Margot says, I even go back to school in October or September.Yours, AnneM. FrankP.S. Ill keep you informed of the test his m and st night, dummies made of straw and rubber were dropped from the air behind German lines, and they exploded the mihey hit the ground. Manyparatroopers, their faces bed so they couldnt be seen in the dark, nded as well. The French coast was bombarded with 5,500 tons of bombs during the night, and then, at six in the m, the first nding craft came ashore. Today there were 20,000 airpnes in a. The German coastal batteries were destroyed even before the nding; a small bridgehead has already been formed. Everythings going well, despite the bad weather. The army and the people are "one will and one hope.”FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1944Dearest Kitty,Great news of the invasion! The Allies have taken Bayeux, a vilge on the coast of France, and are now fighting for . Theyre clearly intending to cut off the peninsu where Cherb is located. Every evening the war correspos report on the difficulties, the ce and the fighting spirit of the army. To get their stories, they pull off the most amazis. A few of the wounded who are already ba Engnd also spoke on the radio. Despite the miserable weather, the pnes are flying dthgently bad forth. We heard over the BBC that Churchill wao nd along with the troops on D Day, but Eisenhower and the enerals mao talk him out of it. Just imagine, so much ce for su old man he must be at least seventy!The excitement here has died down somewhat; still, were all hoping that the war will finally be over by the end of the year. Its about time! Mrs. van Daans stant griping is unbearable; now that she o longer drive us crazy with the invasion, she moans and groans all day about the bad weather. If only we could plunk her down in the loft in a bucket of cold water!Everyone in the Annex except Mr. van Daan aer has read the Hunaarian Rhapsody trilogy, a biography of the poser, piano virtuoso and child prodigy Franz Liszt. Its very iing, though in my opinion theres a bit too much emphasis on women; Liszt was not only the greatest and most famous pianist of his time, he was also the biggest womanizer, even at the age of seventy. He had an affair with tess Marie d Agoult, Princess Carolyne Sayn- Wittgenstein, the dancer Lo Mohe pianist Agnes Kingworth, the pianist Sophie Mehe Circassian princess Olga Janina, Baroness Olga Meyen- dorff, actress Lil whats-her-c., etc., and theres o it. Those parts of the book dealing with musid the other arts are much more iing. Some of the people mentioned are Schumann, Cra Wieck, Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms, Beethoven, Joachim, Richard Wagner, Hans von Bulow, Anton Rubinstein, Frederic Chopin, Victo, Honore de Balzac, Hiller, Hummel, y, Rossini, Cherubini, Paganini, Mendels- sohc., etc.Liszt appears to have been a det man, very generous and modest, though exceptionally vain. He helped others, put art above all else, was extremely fond of ad women, couldhe sight of tears, was a gentleman, couldnt refuse anyone a favor, wasnt ied in money and cared abious freedom and the world.Yours, AnneM. Frank314 ANNE FRANKTUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1944Dearest Kit, Another birthday has gone by, so Im now fifteen. I received quite a few gifts:Springers five-volume art history book, a set of underwear, two belts, a handkerchief, two jars of yogurt, a jar of jam, two honey cookies (small), a botany book from Father and Mother, a gold bracelet from Margot, a sticker album from the van Daans, Biomalt and sweet peas from Dussel, dy from Miep, dy and notebooks from Bep, and the high point: the book Maria Theresa and three slices of full-cream cheese from Mr. Kugler. Peter gave me a lovely bouquet of peohe poor boy had put a lot of effort into finding a present, but nothing quite worked out.The invasion is still going splendidly, in spite of the miserable weather -- p rains, gale winds and high seas.Yesterday Churchill, Smuts, Eisenhower and Arnold visited the French vilges that the British have captured and liberated. Churchill was on a torpedo boat that shelled the coast. Uke many men, he doeso know what fear is -- an enviable trait!From our position here in Fort Annex, its difficult to gauge the mood of the Duto doubt many people are gd the idle (!) British have finally rolled up their sleeves and gotten down to work. Those who keep cim- ing they dont want to be occupied by the British dont realize how unfair theyre being. Their line of reasoning boils down to this: Engnd must fight, struggle and sacri- fice its sons to liberate Holnd and the other occupied tries. After that the British shouldnt remain in Hol- nd:they should offer their most abject apologies to all the occupied tries, restore the Dutch East Io its rightful owner and theurn, weakened and impoverished, to Engnd. What a bunch of idiots. A, as Ive already said, many Dutch people be ted among their ranks. What would have bee of Holnd and its neighbors ifEngnd had signed a peace treaty with Germany, as its had ample opportunity to do?Holnd would have bee German, and that would have been the end of that!All those Dutch people who still look down on the British, scoff at Engnd and its gover of old fogies, call the English cowards, yet hate the Germans, should be given a good shaking, the way youd plump up a pillow. Maybe that would straighten out their jumbled brains!Wishes, thoughts, accusations and reproaches are swirling around in my head. Im not really as ceited as many people think; I know my various faults and shortings better than anyone else, but theres one difference: I also know that I want to ge, will ge and already have ged greatly!Why is it, I often ask myself, that everyoill thinks Im so pushy and such a know-it-all? Am I really sant? Am I the one whos sant, or are they?It sounds crazy, I know, but Im not going to cross out that st sentence, because its not as crazy as it seems. Mrs. van Daan and Dussel, my two chief accusers, are known to be totally unintelligent and, not to put too fine a point on it, just pin "stupid"! Stupid people usually t bear it when others do somethier than they do; the best examples of this are those two dummies, Mrs. van Daan and Dussel. Mrs.van D. thinks Im stupid because I dont suffer so much from this ailment as she does, she thinks Im pushy because shes even pushier, she thinks my dresses are too short because hers are even shorter, and she thinks Im such a know-it-all because she talks twice as much as I do about topics she knows nothing about. The same goes for Dussel. But one of my favorite sayings is "Where theres smoke theres fire," and I readily admit Im a know-it-all.Whats so difficult about my personality is that I scold and curse myself much more than anyone else does; if Mother adds her advice, the pile of sermons bees so thick that I despair of ever getting through them. Then I talk bad start tradig everyoil the old famthar Anne refraiably crops up again:"No one uands me!”This phrase is part of me, and as unlikely as it may seem, theres a kernel of truth in it. Sometimes Im so deeply buried under self-reproaches that I long for a word of fort to help me dig myself out again. If only I had someone who took my feelings seriously. As, I have found that person, so the search must go on.I know youre w about Peter, arent you, Kit? Its true, Peter loves me, not as a girlfriend, but as a friend. His affe grows day by day, but some mysterious force is holding us back, and I dont know what it is.Sometimes I think my terrible longing for him was gerated. But thats not true, because if Im uo go to his room for a day or two, I long for him as desperately as I ever did. Peter is kind and good, a I t deny that hes disappointed me in many ways. I especially dont care for his dislike ion, his table versations and various things of that nature. Still, Im firmly vihat well stick treement o quarrel. Peter is peace-loving, tolerant aremely easygoing. He lets me say a lot of things to him that hed never accept from his mother. Hes making a determined effort to remove the blots from his copybook and keep his affairs in order. Yet why does he hide his innermost self and never allow me access? Of course, hes much more closed than I am, but I know from experience (even though Im stantly being accused of knowing all there is to know in theory, but not in practice) that in time, even the most ununicative types will long as much, or even more, for someoo fide ier and I have both spent our ptive years in the Annex. We often discuss the future, the past and the present, but as Ive already told you, I miss the real thing, a I know it exists!Is it because I havent been outdoors for so long that Ive bee so smitten with nature? I remember a time when a magnifit blue sky, chirping birds, moonlight and budding blossoms wouldnt have captivated me. Things have ged since I came here. One night during the Pe holiday, for instance, when it was so hot, I struggled to keep my eyes open until eleven-thirty so I could get a good look at the moon, all on my own for once. As, my sacrifice was in vain, sihere was too much gre and I couldnt risk opening a window. An- other time, several months ago, I happeo be upstairs one night when the windoen. I didnt go back down until it had to be closed again. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the rag clouds, had me spellbound; it was the first time in a year and a half that Id seen the night face-to-face. After that evening my longing to see it again was eveer than my fear of burgrs, a dark rat-ied house or robberies. I went downstairs all by myself and looked out the windows i and private office. Many people think nature is beautiful, many people sleep from time to time uhe starry sky, and many people in hospitals and prisons long for the day when theyll be free to enjoy what nature has to offer. But few are as isoted and cut off as we are from dle joys of nature, which be shared by rid poor alike.Its not just my imagination -- looking at dle sky, dle clouds, dle moon and dle stars really does make me feel calm and hopeful. Its much better medie than valerian or bromide. Nature makes me feel humble and ready to face every blow with ce!As luck would have it, Im only able -- except for a few rare occasions-to view nature through dusty curtains tacked over dirt-caked windows; it takes dle pleasure out of looking. Nature is dle ohing for which dlere is no substitute!One of dle many questions that have often bodlered me is why women have been, and still are, thought to be so inferior to men. Its easy to say its unfair, but thats not enough for me; Id really like to know the reason for this great injustice!Men presumably dominated women from the very beginning because of their greater physical strength; its men who earn a living, beget children and do as they please. . .Until retly, women silently went along willi this, which was stupid, sihe los kept up, the more deeply entre bees. Fortunately, education, work and progress have opened womens eyes. In many tries theyve been granted equal rights; many people, mainly women, but also men, now realize h it was to tolerate this state of affairs for so long. Modern women want the right to be pletely indepe!But thats not all. Women should be respected as well! Generally speaking, men are held i esteem in all parts ofthe world, so why shouldnt women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and orated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but hoeople look upon women too as soldiers?In the book Soldiers on the Home Front I was greatly struck by the fact that in childbirth alone, women only suffer more pain, illness and misery than any war hero ever does. And whats her reward for enduring all that pain? She gets pushed aside when shes disfigured by birth, her children soon leave, her beauty is gone.Women, whle and suffer pain to ehe - tinuation of the human race, make much tougher and more ceous soldiers than all those big-mouthed freedom-fighting heroes put together!I doo imply that women should stop having children; on the trary, nature intehem to, and thats the way it should be. What I n are our system of values and the men who dont aowledge how great, difficult, but ultimately beautiful womens share in society is.I agree pletely with Paul de Kruif, the author of this book, when he says that men must learn that birth is no lohought of as iable and unavoidable in those parts of the world we sider civthzed. Its easy for men to talk -- they dont and never will have to bear the woes that women do!I believe that in the course of the tury the notion that its a womans duty to have children will ge and make way for the resped admiration of all women, who bear their burdens without pint or a lot of pompous words!Yours, AnneM. FrankFRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1944Dearest Kitty,New problems: Mrs. van D. is at her wits end. Shes talking about getting shot, being thrown in prison, being hanged and suicide. Shes jealous that Peter fides in me and not in her, offehat Dussel doesnt re- spond suffitly to her flirtations and afraid her husbands going to squander all the fur-oney on to- bacco. She quarrels, curses, cries, feels sorry for herself, ughs and starts allain.What oh you do with such a silly, sniveling spe o99lib?f humanity? Nobody takes her seriously, she has nth of character, she pins to one and all, and you should see how she walks around: von hinten Lyzeum, yon vorne Museum.* [Acts like a schoolgirl, looks like a frump.] Even worse, Peters being i, Mr. van Daan irritable and Mother ical. Yes, everyones in quite a state! Theres only one rule you o remember: ugh at everything and fet everybody else! It souistical, but its actually the only cure for those suffering from self-pity.Mr. Kuglers supposed to spend four weeks in Alkmaar on a work detail. Hes trying to get out of it with a doctors certificate and a letter from Opekta. Mr. Kleimans hoping his stomach will be operated on soon. Starting at eleven st night, all private phones were cut off.Yours, AnneM. FrankFRIDAY, JUNE 23, 1944Dearest Kitty,Nothing special going on here. The British have begun their all-out atta Cherb. Acc to Pim and Mr. van Oaan, were sure to be liberated before October 10. The Russians are taking part in the cam- paigerday they started their offensive near Vitebsk, exactly three years to the day that the Germans invaded Russia.Beps spirits have sunk lower than ever. Were nearly out of potatoes; from now on, were going to t them out for each person, then everyone do what they want with them. Starting Monday, Mieps taking a week of var. Kleimans doctors havent found anything on the X rays. Hes torween having aion aing matters take their course.Yours, AnneM. FrankTUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1944My dearest Kitty,The mood has ged, everythings going enormously well. Cherb, Vitebsk and Zhlobioday. Theyre sure to have captured lots of men and equipment. Five German generals were killed near Cherb and two taken captive. Now that theyve got a harbor, the British bring whatever they want on shore. The whole tin Peninsu has been captured just three weeks after the invasion! What a feat!Ihree weeks since D Day there hasnt been a day without rain and storms, her here nor in France, but this bad luck hashe British and the Ameris from dispying their might. And how! Of course, the Germans have uheir wonder on, but a little firecracker like that wont hardly make a dent, except maybe minor damage in Engnd and screaming headlines in the Kraut neers.Anyway, when they realize in "Krautnd" that the Bolsheviks really are getting closer, theyll be shaking in their boots.All German women who arent w for the military are being evacuated, together with their children, from the coastal regions to the provinces of Groningen, Friesnd and Geldernd. Mussert* [* The leader of the Dutational Socialist (Nazi) Party] has annouhat if the invasion reaches Holnd, hell enlist. Is that fat pig pnning to fight? He could have dohat in Russia long before now. Finnd turned doeace offer some time ago, and now the iations have been broken off again.Those numbskulls, theyll be sorry!How far do you think well be on July 27?Yours, AnneM. FrankFRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1944Dearest Kitty,Bad weather from o a stretch to the thirty June* [Annes English.] Dont I say that well? Oh yes, I already know a little English; just to prove it Im reading An Ideal Husband with the help of a diary! Wars going wonderfully: Bobruysk, Mogilev and Orsha have fallen, lots of prisoners.Everythings all right here. Spirits are improving, our superoptimists are triumphant, the van Daans are doing disappearing acts with the sugar, Bep s ged her hair, and Miep has a week off. Thats the test news!Ive been having really ghastly root-al work done on one of my froh. Its been terribly painful. It was so bad Dussel thought I was going to faint, and I nearly did. Mrs. van D. promptly got a toothache as well!Yours, AnneM. FrankP.S. Weve heard from Basel that Bernd* [Cousin Bernhard (Buddy) Elias]. pyed the part of the innkeeper in Minna von Barnhelm. He has "artistic leanings," says Mother.