The war rages on
“Today I have nothing but dismal and depressing news to report. Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in droves… transporting them in cattle cars to Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they're sending all the Jews. Miep told us about someone who'd managed to escape from there. It must be terrible in Westerbork.” Anne Frank
Anne writes:
“Will this year, 1944, bring us victory? We don't know yet. But where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again. We'll need to be brave to endure the many fears and hardships and the suffering yet to come.”
Discovered
The people in hiding in the secret annexe were discovered on 4 August 1944.
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Messages via the helpers
In the afternoon, the helpers often go upstairs to eat lunch with the people hiding in the Secret Annex. Then warehouse workers have then gone home for a short break. The state of affairs in the city is frequently discussed. There are many razzias. Jews who do not voluntarily turn themselves in are picked up and sent to the transit camp in Westerbork. Almost weekly, a train leaves from there bound for unknown destinations in the east of Europe. The people in hiding assume the majority of Jews will be murdered there. The people in hiding are already anxious and depressed, so the helpers do not always tell them about everything going on in the outside world.
Raid at the Merwedeplein
A raid in the summer of 1943, in the neighbourhood of Merwedeplein, where the Frank family lived before they went into hiding.
Hoping for peace
When the people in hiding have spent almost two years in the Secret Annex, there is fantastic news: a massive landing of the Allies on the beaches of Normandy. Will the occupied countries of Europe soon be liberated? Anne hopes to return to school in September or October…
Map of Normandy
After D-Day, Otto Frank marks the progress of the Allied forces on this little card.