When I can find time I’ve been reading the recent revision of Anne Frank’s war time diary to my wife. It is a delightful book notwithstanding the grim end that is so well known and which is still over a hundred pages away from my reading.
I learned a couple things about Anne from the forward that were new to me. Anne began thinking about publishing the book well before its completion, if that’s the right word. She had heard a speech from the Dutch government in exile asking people to keep a record of the German occupation for posterity. Afterwards, she went make and made some revisions of her previous diary entries. Evidently she discovered an ambition to become a writer and my wife and I both think she had what it would have taken to do this.
Last week I read a passage where she expressed exasperation with some of her fellows in the hidden annex. I’ve got a baritone voice so there’s no point trying to hide that but I did manage to read one passage with the kind of sauciness the writing suggested and afterward told my wife that being a guy was probably wasted on me. Claudia laughed but in her case she probably thought I was already too temperamental as a guy and I don’t even follow sports.
Today’s news of the botched Israeli attempt to stop a convoy of aid to the Gaza has me thinking that for a long time that Israeli hard liners have been hiding behind Anne’s petticoats. Its as though “never forget” has morphed into “Remember the Alamo.” I suspect Anne would have identified with the privations of the people of Gaza if not their elected Hamas leaders. So do I.
