STAIRWAY TO HELL

Dear Jenny

I’ve a recurring dream that I’m with family, running up lots of stairs to get into a hidden part of the loft to hide from people who want to kill us. In these dreams, the staircase changes but the story remains the same. Can you tell me if I used to be Anne Frank?

Gill, 61, Redditch, Worcestershire

Hopeful girl

Your name is Renia, and you are 15 years old, living in Poland in 1939. When the Nazis come searching, you have to hide. You and your sister Ariana, and your parents. There is death everywhere. Your only escape is into writing. You dream of being a poet, but you also have nightmares of dying. You pray to God. You want to live. You think you are ugly, but have learned that looks mean nothing compared with dying.

Sweet kiss

Today you had your first kiss. You are filled with joy, but then a terrible fear of losing love. You live with two enemies, The Soviets who come from one side, and the Nazis who come from the other. You just long for a normal life.

Still trapped

It’s May 1942, your 18th birthday. All you want is someone to talk to, like normal girls must have in other countries.

Out of hiding

Now it’s June. You often hide in the attic at home, but this day as the soldiers come, you’re with your boyfriend’s parents, hiding in another attic in another house. The noise gets closer, and your heart stammers with fear as you understand this time they will not turn away, this time is the end.

They burst the hatch open and climb up. They grab you and haul all three of you out of the attic, down the stairs and out into the street. You all cower as they raise their guns. They mean to shoot you. You can’t understand, you’ve done nothing wrong. How can it end like this? The shots ring out and you fall, dead.