Anne Frank Remembered

Chapter 1

In 1933, I Lived with my adoptive parents, the Nieuwenhuises, at Gaaspstraat 25, sharing a small, cozy attic room with my adoptive sister, Catherina. Our quarter was a quiet area of South Amsterdam known as the River Quarter because the streets were named after Dutch and other European rivers whose lower courses flowed through the Netherlands to the sea, like the Rhine, the Maas, the Jeker. In fact, the Amstel flowed practically into our own backyards.

This section had been built up during the 1920s and early '30s when large, progressive corporations had built great blocks of apartments for their members with the help of government loans. We were all quite proud of this forward-looking treatment of ordinary working people: comfortable housing, indoor plumbing, tree-filled gardens in the rear of each block. Other big blocks were built entirely by private firms.

Actually, our quarter wasn't altogether quiet. Almost always, lively children filled the air with shouts and laughter; if they weren't playing games, they were whistling upward to call their friends out to play. A friendship included a one-of-a-kind tune whistled loudly to call the friend and identify who was downstairs. Children were always in each other's company, charging off in little packs to the Amstelpark swimming pool, or perhaps speaking in singsong as they walked to and from school in bunches. Dutch children, like their parents, learned faithfulness in friendship very young, and would just as quickly turn implacable if any wrong was done to a friend.

Gaaspstraat was much like all the other streets, filled with a great five-story block of apartments. There were doorways up and down the street leading to steep stairways. The buildings were constructed of dark brown brick with sloping orange roofs. There were windows both front and back, all wood-trimmed and painted white, each window with a different white lace curtain, and never without flowers or plants.

Our backyard was

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue

PART ONE

Refugees

PART TWO

In Hiding

PART THREE

The Darkest Days

Epilogue

Map of the Netherlands

Map of Amsterdam

Floor Plan of the Annex

Hermine Santruschitz Gies, better known as Miep Gies, helped hide Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis, and saved her diaries. Alison Leslie Gold's wide-ranging body of fictional and nonfictional work spans the Holocaust and World War II, alcoholism and other forms of addiction, mental illness, the art of being a painter's muse, and loss and love. Miep and Jan Gies, icons of goodness who sheltered Anne Frank, were never willing to have their entire story written until they met Alison. Gold has received the Best of the Best Award given by the American Library Association, the Anti-Defamation League's Merit of Educational Distinction Award and a Christopher Award for affirming the highest values of the human spirit, among other awards and prizes. Her books have been adapted for stage and screen and have been translated into twenty-three languages. Her blog and more information about her work are available at AlisonLeslieGold.com.

Elie Wiesel A poignant account, vibrating with humanity.