Random Thoughts
Sometimes I'm slow getting to things. This time, it took me 50 years to read a book that was published after World War II. I guess everybody has heard of it by now, even seen the movie. I avoided it because I was sure it would be very sad.
The small book is the "Diary of Anne Frank." The young 13-year-old girl wasn't sad, although she and her family hid in a secret place for two years. They were Jews and the Nazis were after every Jew, especially in Holland.
She wrote of her life as they lived it in hiding. Some Dutch friends got food to them. Sometimes they went for days eating only potatoes. She wrote about her dreams and her hopes for the future and she wrote about the people (her parents, too) in the group.
Being shut in a small place for so long, everyone got cranky and quarreled. Often she was very wise and seemed to figure out how everyone felt living together in such small quarters.
The book brought back memories of my woman friend. She was a Jew I had met in Switzerland. We corresponded for years until she died. I wish I could talk to her now. I would love to hear how her family escaped the Nazis.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally read Anne Frank's diary.
— NORMA HANNAFORD
