EN

Anne Frank continues to write in notebooks

There is a year between the last entry in the red-checked diary and the next, preserved diary.

Event

Dec. 22, 1943

52.37521 N 4.884335 E

Prinsengracht 263

Amsterdam

Nederland

Anne Frank's first, red-checked diary (Diary A1) ran until 5 December 1942. Even though it was not full at that point, Anne considered it full and then continued writing in notebooks, with Johannes Kleiman providing the next diary.[1] This diary has been lost - and possibly subsequent diaries as well. The next diary begins on 22 December 1943. On average, a diary covered five months, so it is likely that there were several diaries in between. On 11 November 1943, Anne wrote in the B-version (the A-version is missing here): "When I was thirteen the fountain pen went with me to the Annex, and together we've raced through countless dairies and compositions. I'd turned fourteen and my fountain pen was enjoying the last year of its life with me when .... "[2] From this, one might infer that more than one diary is missing. In the narrative The Dentist, Anne writes about a disinfectant. In a margin note, she notes: "In Dec. I wrote: decificator!"[3] The word 'decificator' cannot be found in the preserved A volumes, which makes it plausible that Anne is referring to an entry in a lost diary.

The surviving diary A2 consists of a black mottled notebook with hard cover. Diary A2 does not connect to diary A1. It shows a gap of one year and begins on Wednesday 22 December 1943: "Dear Kitty, Father has tracked down another diary for me after all, and it is of a respectable thickness, of that, you can, in due course, convince yourself".'[4]

Anne wrote until 17 April 1944 in this diary. Diary A3, written in a green mottled notebook with hard cover, begins on 18 April 1944: "Again there has been a treasure who has taken apart a chemistry notebook for me to get me a new diary, this time it is Margot".[5]

The last diary entry of diary A3 dates from 1 August 1944 and was made three days before the arrest of Anne and the other people in hiding.

Footnotes

  1. ^ 'Daddy has asked Mr Kleiman for a diary and Bep for a potty'. Anne Frank, Version A, 26 October 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019. 'I simply can't wait to ask Mr Kleiman for the new diary well so long',  Anne Frank, Version A, 2 November 1942, in: The Collected Works.  
  2. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 11 November 1943, in: The Collected Works.
  3. ^ Anne Frank, Tales and events from the Secret Annexe, "The Dentist", 8 December 1942, in: The Collected Works.
  4. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 22 December 1943, in: The Collected Works.
  5. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 18 April 1944, in: The Collected Works.