Maradhoo School

 

Anne's Life on 8 July 1942

By Amathullah Binthi Azir Saeed, Grade 6, 2024

It seemed like years since Sunday morning. So much
had happened; it felt as if the whole world had suddenly turned upside down. My mother had gone to see Mr. Van Daan, Father’s business partner and a good friend. A little while later, Margot appeared in the kitchen doorway looking very agitated. She told me that Father had received a call-up notice from the SS. I was stunned. A call-up—everyone knew what that meant. Visions of concentration camps and lonely cells raced through my head. How could we let Father face such a fate, I wondered.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It was Mother and Mr. Van Daan. Both of them came inside, shutting the door behind them. Margot and I were sent to my room, as Mr. Van Daan wanted to talk to Mother alone.

When we were sitting on my bed, Margot told me that the call-up was not for Father, but for her. At this second shock, I began to cry. Thank goodness she wouldn’t be going. Mother had said so herself. Margot and I started packing our most important belongings into a school bag. The first things I packed were this diary, a comb, curlers, handkerchiefs, school books, and some old letters. I put the craziest things in the bag, but I am not sorry. Memories mean more to me than dresses.

Father finally came home around five o'clock. Miep and Jan Gies came at eleven. Miep, who had worked for Father’s company since 1933, had become a close friend, and so had her husband, Jan. At eleven-thirty, they too disappeared. I was exhausted, and even though I knew it would be my last night in my own bed, I fell asleep right away and didn’t wake up until Mother called at five-thirty the next morning.

The four of us were wrapped in so many layers of clothes it looked as if we were going to spend the night in a refrigerator. No Jew in our situation would dare leave the house with a suitcase. At seven-thirty, we closed the door behind us. Moortje, my cat, was the only living creature I said goodbye to. We just wanted to get out of there, to escape and reach our destination in safety. Nothing else mattered.