Jacqueline van Maarsen

Jacqueline (Jacque, Jopie) van Maarsen was a daughter of a Dutch-Jewish father, Samuel van Maarsen (1884-1952),^[1] and a French non-Jewish mother, Eulalie Julienne Verlhac (1891-1992).^[2] She had a two-year older sister Christiana (Cricri) Huguette Julia van Maarsen (1927-2006).^[3] Her parents got married in Paris in 1925. After the birth of their first daughter, the family moved to Amsterdam in 1927.

Jacqueline was in class 1L2 of the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam in the school year 1941-1942.^[4] She met Anne Frank there and they became good friends.^[5] Anne regularly wrote about Jacqueline in her diary.^[6] For example, she wrote about the ping-pong club they founded, 'De Kleine Beer, minus 2' (The Little Bear minus 2).^[7] On Sunday 1 March 1942 they organised a film screening at Anne's home together, with tickets they had made themselves.^[8] This was because sport clubs and cinemas were forbidden for Jews.^[9]

For Jacqueline's 13th birthday, Anne gave her the book Hup Loek! by Aleid Ages van Weel as a present.^[10] On 23 March 1942, Anne wrote a rhyme in her autograph book.^[11] Both Anne and Jascqueline collected postcards and pictures which they exchanged with each other:

‘Anne liked to collect film stars (...) and then I liked to pick those with her and we cut them out of theatre newspapers and Libelle.’^[12]

Two postcards of British princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Winsor, which Anne later pasted on the wall of her room in the Secret Annex, were possibly given to her by Jacqueline.^[13]

Jacqueline's mother converted to Judaism in Paris, because of her intended marriage. After moving to Amsterdam, the very orthodox Jewish Congregation there initially refused to acknowledge the marriage. This only happened in 1938.^[14] In 1942, under the pretext that her husband had registered her and the children as Jews without her knowledge, Mrs Van Maarsen managed to get herself and her daughters registered as non-Jews. Jacqueline and her siter dropped out of the Jewish Lyceum and were no longer required to wear a star.^[15]

Jacqueline and Anne promised to write each other a farewell letter should they not see each other again. From 6 July 1942, Anne was in hiding in the Secret Annex. Jacqueline remembered visiting the Frank family's abandoned house with Hanneli Goslar to see if she could find a farewell letter from Anne, but there was none.^[16] On 25 September 1942, Anne wrote that ‘promised farewell letter’ to Jacqueline in her diary. Of course, she could not send that letter; that was too dangerous. She wrote among other things:

"... I hope we will see each other again soon, but it will probably not be before the end of the war anyway... Your 'best' friend Anne

P.S. I hope that until we see each other again, we will always remain 'best' friends."^[17]

On the same day Anne wrote a second letter, replying to an imaginary farewell letter from Jacqueline, which she never wrote: ‘I was very glad to get your letter, (...). I think of you so often."^[18] It was only after the war that Otto Frank gave Jacqueline a copy of these two letters. In 1947, he sent her a copy of the first edition of Anne Frank's diary. They kept in touch until Otto's death in 1980.^[19]

In the first edition of Anne Frank’s diary, Jacqueline van Maarsen was called 'Jopie de Waal'. In 1990 Jacqueline van Maarsen published Anne and Jopie.^[20] In it she described how their friendship blossomed in those dark days. Since then four books by Jacqueline have been published. In them she talks about her friendship with Anne Frank and her own family history.^[21] Two of them have been published in English.^[22]

Jacqueline van Maarsen was a bookbinder and writer. In 1954, she married Ruud Sanders, with whom she had three children.

Source personal data.^[1] Address: Hunzestraat 4 I, Amsterdam.^[1]