In hiding, books became increasingly important for Anne, a fervent reader. She impatiently awaited new books that the helpers were able to bring her, and she commented on her reading experiences in her diary.

Encouraged by her father, Anne began to record favorite quotations from other writers in this notebook on August 14, 1943. She copied sentences from writers such as William Shakespeare, John Galsworthy, and Johann Wolfgang Goethe as well as from biographies of nurse Florence Nightingale, painter Peter Paul Rubens, and composer Franz Liszt.

Anne read Dutch, German, and some English. On these pages she has copied sections from Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in English.

Origin

Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, Amsterdam