.. waiting for death ..

Wednesday, 13 January 1943
Amsterdam, in a hidden Annexe to a house; shelter provided by a Dutch family

Dearest Kitty (name of my diary),
Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged ______ of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a rucksack and a little cash with them, and even _______, they’re robbed of these __________ on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to _______ that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone. The Christians in Holland are also living in _______ because their sons are being sent to Germany. Everyone is scared. Every night hundreds of planes pass over Holland on their way to German cities, to sow their bombs on German soil. Every hour hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of people are being killed in Russia and Africa. No one can keep out of the _______, the entire world is at war, and even though the Allies are doing better, the end is nowhere in sight.

So for us, we’re quite _______. Luckier than millions of people. It’s quiet and safe here, and we’re using our money to buy food. We’re so _______ that we talk about ‘after the war’ and look forward to new clothes and shoes, when actually we should be _______ every penny to help others when the war is over, to salvage whatever we can.

The children in this neighbourhood run around in thin shirts and wooden clogs. They have no coats, no socks, no caps and no one to help them. Gnawing on a carrot to still their hunger ________, they walk from their cold houses through cold streets to an even ______ classroom. Things have got so bad in Holland that hordes of children stop passers-by in the streets to beg for a piece of bread.

I could spend hours telling you about the suffering the war has ______, but I’d only make myself more miserable. All we can do is wait, as calmly as possible, for it to end. Jews and Christians alike are waiting, the whole world is waiting, and ______ are waiting for death.

Yours, Anne ( Anne Frank, 13 years old)


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