EN

Little Bear minus two

Little Bear minus two was the table-tennis club of Anne Frank and four of her friends.

Subject

Little Bear minus two was the name of the table-tennis club of Anne and four of her friends.

Sanne Ledermann was the 'leader', Jacqueline van Maarsen 'secretary' and Anne, Ilse Wagner and Hanneli Goslar were members. Anne writes in her diary that the name was chosen based on the incorrect assumption that the constellation the Great Bear consists of five stars.[1] The club made good use of Ilse's table-tennis set. Consequently, they played with each other in the Wagners' 'big dining room'. After playing, they often went for ice cream at Oasis or Delphi.[2] According to Jacqueline van Maarsen, the club was modelled on the Jopopinoloukico club of Joop ter Heul, the main character in the book series written by Cissy van Marxveldt.[3]

The Wagner family moved from Grevelingenstraat to the Transvaal neighbourhood at the end of May '42. They moved in with others.[4] Club activities probably stopped then.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Referred to by Anne as: t.l.B-2, Anne Frank, Diary Version A, 14 June 1942, in: The Collected Works, transl. from the Dutch by Susan Massotty, London [etc.]: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2019.
  2. ^ Anne Frank, Diary Version B, 20 June 1942, in: The Collected Works.
  3. ^ Jacqueline van Maarsen, Ik heet Anne, zei ze, Anne Frank. Herinneringen van Jacqueline van Maarsen, Amsterdam: Cossee, 2003, p. 104.
  4. ^ NIOD Instituut voor Oorlogs-, Holocaust en Genocidestudies, Amsterdam, Archief 181e (W.S.H. Elte), inv. nr. 2f: Absentenregister klas 1LII Joods Lyceum, 1 maart – 17 juli 1942.