Anne Frank’s diary gives up a hidden secret
Historians studying the diary of Anne Frank have revealed the secret of two pages sealed with brown paper. The schoolgirl was writing what she considered to be “dirty” jokes and musings on sex, tame by adult standards but risqué in the mind of a 13-year-old in 1942.
HISTORIANS studying the diary of Anne Frank had long wondered why two pages were sealed beneath a layer of brown paper.
The answer has now been revealed: the schoolgirl was writing what she considered to be “dirty” jokes and musings on sex, tame by adult standards but risqué in the mind of a 13-yearold, as Anne was at the time of writing in September 1942.
The “lost” writing has been deciphered for the first time by researchers in Amsterdam using digital photographic techniques. They believe Anne covered the pages with sticky paper to hide them from prying eyes. “Anyone who reads the passages that
have now been discovered will be unable to suppress a smile,” said Frank van Vree, the director of the Netherlands Institute for War Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “The ‘dirty’ jokes are classics among growing children. They make it clear that Anne, with all her gifts, was above all also an ordinary girl.”
The family had gone into hiding from the Nazis three months earlier in the annexe of a house in Amsterdam. In 1944, they were discovered. Anne died in the Bergen-belsen concentration camp in April 1945, weeks before it was liberated by British forces. Her father, Otto, the only family member to survive, published Anne’s diary in 1947 and censored some passages.
Ronald Leopold, the executive director of the Anne Frank House Museum, said the new pages “bring us even closer to the girl and the writer”, showing how she created fictional situations that made it “easier for her to address the sensitive topics that she writes about”. Some entries were addressed to Kitty, a fictional friend.
The first page has some words crossed out and are no longer readable. Anne then wrote underneath that she “would use this spoiled page” to write down jokes.
On the second page, Anne imagines “that someone would come to me and ask me to inform them about sexual issues”, and proceeds to write about sex. “Of course you do not do that before you are married. If one is married one can do it. You can also arrange yourself if you want to have children or not,” she explained.
The existence of the pages was discovered in 2001 when researchers scanned the manuscripts, but at the time there was no means to read what lay beneath the tape. The new technique involved photographing the pages, backlit by a flash, then using image-processing software to decipher the words.
Mr Leopold said custodians felt duty-bound to publish the newly discovered texts.
“The diary of Anne Frank is read by millions of people. We think we should share new information,” he said.
‘Anyone who reads the passages will be unable to suppress a smile’