FOREWORD
Anne Frank kept a diary from June 12, 1942, to August 1, 1944. Initially, she
wrote it strictly for herself. Then, one day in 1944, Gerrit Bolkestein, a
member of the Dutch government in exile, announced in a radio broadcast
from London that after the war he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of the
suffering of the Dutch people under the German occupation, which could be
made available to the public. As an example, he specifically mentioned letters
and diaries.
Impressed by this speech, Anne Frank decided that when the war was over
she would publish a book based on her diary. She began rewriting and editing
her diary, improving on the text, omitting passages she didn’t think were
interesting enough and adding others from memory. At the same time, she
kept up her original diary. In the scholarly work The Diary of Anne Frank:
The Critical Edition (1989), Anne’s first, unedited diary is referred to as
version a, to distinguish it from her second, edited diary, which is known as
version b.
The last entry in Anne’s diary is dated August 1, 1944. On August 4, 1944,
the eight people hiding in the Secret Annex were arrested. Miep Gies and
Bep Voskuijl, the two secretaries working in the building, found Anne’s
diaries strewn allover the floor. ,Miep Gies tucked them away in a desk
drawer for safekeeping. After the war, when it became clear that Anne was
dead, she gave the diaries, unread, to Anne’s father, Otto Frank.
After long deliberation, Otto Frank decided to fulfill his daughter’s wish and
publish her diary. He selected material from versions a and b, editing them
into a shorter version later referred to as version c. Readers all over the world
know this as The Diary of a fauna Girl.
In making his choice, Otto Frank had to bear several points in mind. To begin
with, the book had to be kept short so that it would fit in with a series put out
by the Dutch publisher. In addition, several passages dealing with Anne’s
sexuality were omitted; at the time of the diary’s initial publication, in 1947, it
was not customary to write openly about sex, and certainly not in books for
young adults. Out of respect for the dead, Otto Frank also omitted a number
of unflattering passages about his wife and the other residents of the Secret
Annex. Anne Frank, who was thirteen when she began her diary and fifteen
when she was forced to stop, wrote without reserve about her likes and
dislikes.
When Otto Frank died in 1980, he willed his daughter’s manuscripts to the
Netherlands State Institute for War Documentation in Amsterdam. Because
the authenticity of the diary had been challenged ever since its publication,
the Institute for War Documentation ordered a thorough investigation. Once
the diary was proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be genuine, it was
published in its entirety, along with the results of an exhaustive study. The
Critical Edition contains not only versions a, band c, but also articles on the
background of the Frank family, the circumstances surrounding their arrest
and deportation, and the examination into Anne’s handwriting, the document
and the materials used.
The Anne Frank-Fonds (Anne Frank Foundation) in Basel (Switzerland),.
which as Otto Frank’s sole heir had also inherited his daughter’s copyrights,
then decided to have anew, expanded edition of the diary published for
general readers. This new edition in no way affects the integrity of the old
one originally edited by Otto Frank, which brought the diary and its message
to millions of people. The task of compthng the expanded edition was given
to the writer and translator Mirjam Pressler. Otto Frank’s original selection
has now been supplemented with passages from Anne’s a and b versions.
Mirjam Pressler’s definitive edition, approved by the Anne Frank-Fonds,
contains approximately 30 percent more material and is intended to give the
reader more insight into the world of Anne Frank.
In writing her second version (b), Anne invented pseudonyms for the people
who would appear in her book. She initially wanted to call herself Anne
Aulis, and later Anne Robin. Otto Frank opted to call his family by their own
names and to follow Anne’s wishes with regard to the others. Over the years,
the identity of the people who helped the family in the Secret Annex has
become common knowledge. In this edition, the helpers are now referred to
by their real names, as they so justly deserve to be. All other persons are
named in accordance with the pseudonyms in The Critical Edition.
The Institute for War Documentation has arbitrarily assigned initials to those
persons wishing to remain anonymous.
The real names of the other people hiding in the Secret Annex are:
THE VAN PELS FAMILY
(from Osnabriick, Germany):
Auguste van Pels (born September 9, 1890)
Hermann van Pels (born March 31, 1889)
Peter van Pels (born November 8, 1926)
Called by Anne, in her manuscript: Petronella, Hans and Alfred van Daan;
and in the book: Petronella, Hermann and Peter van Daan.
FRITZ PFEFFER
(born April 30, 1889, in Giessen, Germany): Called by Anne, in her
manuscript and in the book: Alfred Dussel.
The reader may wish to bear in mind that much of this edition is based on the
b version of Anne’s diary, which she wrote when she was around fifteen years
old. Occasionally, Anne went back and commented on a passage she had
written earlier. These comments are clearly marked in this edition.
Naturally, Anne’s spelling and linguistic errors have been corrected.
Otherwise, the text has basically been left as she wrote it, since any attempts
at editing and clarification would be inappropriate in a historical document.
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I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able
to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and
support.