Wednesday, July 1, 1942
Dearest Kitty,
Until today I honestly couldnât find the time to write you. I was with friends all day Thursday, we had company on Friday, and thatâs how it went until today.
Hello and I have gotten to know each other very well this past week, and heâs told me a lot about his life. He comes from Gelsenkirchen and is living with his grandparents. His parents are in Belgium, but thereâs no way he can get there. Hello used to have a girlfriend named Ursula. I know her too. Sheâs perfectly sweet and perfectly boring. Ever since he met me, Hello has realized that heâs been falling asleep at Ursulâs side. So Iâm kind of a pep tonic. You never know what youâre good for!
Jacque spent Saturday night here. Sunday afternoon she was at Hanneliâs, and I was bored stiff.
Hello was supposed to come over that evening, but he called around six. I answered the phone, and he said, âThis is Helmuth Silberberg. May I please speak to Anne?â
âOh, Hello. This is Anne.â
âOh, hi, Anne. How are you?â
âFine, thanks.â
âI just wanted to say Iâm sorry but I canât come tonight, though I would like to have a word with you. Is it all right if I come by and pick you up in about ten minutes.â
âYes, thatâs fine. Bye-bye!â
âOkay, Iâll be right over. Bye-bye!â
I hung up, quickly changed my clothes and fixed my hair. I was so nervous I leaned out the window to watch for him. He finally showed up. Miracle of miracles, I didnât rush down the stairs, but waited quietly until he rang the bell. I went down to open the door, and he got right to the point.
âAnne, my grandmother thinks youâre too young for me to be seeing you on a regular basis. She says I should be going to the Lowenbachsâ, but you probably know that Iâm not going out with Ursul anymore.â
âNo, I didnât know. What happened? Did you two have a fight?â
âNo, nothing like that. I told Ursul that we werenât suited to each other and so it was better for us not to go together anymore, but that she was welcome at my house and I hoped I would be welcome at hers. Actually, I thought Ursul was hanging around with another boy, and I treated her as if she were. But that wasnât true. And then my uncle said I should apologize to her, but of course I didnât feel like it, and thatâs why I broke up with her. But that was just one of the reasons.
âNow my grandmother wants me to see Ursul and not you, but I donât agree and Iâm not going to. Sometimes old people have really old-fashioned ideas, but that doesnât mean I have to go along with them. I need my grandparents, but in a certain sense they need me too. From now on Iâll be free on Wednesday evenings. You see, my grandparents made me sign up for a wood-carving class, but actually I go to a club organized by the Zionists. My grandparents donât want me to go, because theyâre anti-Zionists. Iâm not a fanatic Zionist, but it interests me. Anyway, itâs been such a mess lately that Iâm planning to quit. So next Wednesday will be my last meeting. That means I can see you Wednesday evening, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon and maybe even more.â
âBut if your grandparents donât want you to, you? shouldnât go behind their backs.â
âAllâs fair in love and war.â
Just then we passed Blankevoortâs Bookstore and there was Peter Schiff with two other boys; it was the first time heâd said hello to me in ages, and it really made me feel good.
Monday evening Hello came over to meet Father and Mother. I had bought a cake and some candy, and we had tea and cookies, the works, but neither Hello nor I felt like sitting stiffly on our chairs. So we went out for a walk, and he didnât deliver me to my door until ten past eight. Father was furious. He said it was very wrong of me not to get home on time. I had to promise to be home by ten to eight in the future. Iâve been asked to Helloâs on Saturday.
Wilma told me that one night when Hello was at her house, she asked him, âWho do you like best, Ursul or Anne?â
He said, âItâs none of yo...