WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1944
Dearest Kitty,
My own affairs have been pushed to the background by . . . a break-in. Im b you with all my break-ins, but what I do when burglars take such pleasure in h Gies & Go. with their presehis i is much more plicated than the last one, in July 1943.
Last night at seven-thirty Mr. van Daan was heading, as usual, for Mr. Kuglers office when he saw that both the glass door and the office door were open. He was surprised, but he went on through and was even more astoo see that the alcove doors were open as well and that there was a terrible mess in the front office.
"Theres been a burglary" flashed through his mind. But just to make sure, he went downstairs to the front door, checked the lod found everything closed. "Bep aer must just have been very careless this evening," Mr. van. D. cluded. He remained for a while in Mr. Kuglers office, switched off the lamp a upstairs without w much about the open doors or the messy office.
Early this m Peter k our door to tell us that the front door was wide
open and that the projector and Mr. Kuglers new briefcase had disappeared from the closet. Peter was instructed to lock the door. Mr. van Daan told us his discoveries of the night before, and we were extremely worried.
The only explanation is that the burglar must have had a duplicate key, sihere were no signs of a forced entry. He must have sneaked in early in the evening, shut the door behind him, hidden himself when he heard Mr. van Daan, fled with the loot after Mr. van Daa upstairs and, in his hurry, not bothered to shut the door.
Who could have our key? Why didnt the burglar go to the warehouse? Was it one of our own warehouse employees, and will he turn us in, now that hes heard Mr. van Daan and maybe even seen him?
Its really scary, since we dont know whether the burglar will take it into his head to try a in again. Or was he so startled when he heard someone else in the building that hell stay away?
Yours, Anne
P.S. Wed be delighted if you could hunt up a good detective for us. Obviously, theres one dotion: he must be relied upon not to mform on people in hiding.
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1944
Dearest Kitty,
Margot and I were iic together today. I t enjoy being there with her the way I imagid be with Peter (or someone else). I know she feels the same about most things as I do!
While doing the dishes, Bep began talking to Mother and Mrs. van Daan about how disced she gets. What help did those two offer her? Our tactless mother, especially, only made things go from bad to worse. Do you know what her advice was? That she should think about all the other people in the world who are suffering!
How thinking about the misery of others help if youre miserable yourself? I said as much. Their response, of course, was that I should stay out of versations of this sort.
The grown-ups are such idiots! As if Peter, Margot, Bep and I didnt all have the same feelings. The only thing that helps is a mothers love, or that of a very, very close friend. But these two mothers dont uand the first thing about us! Perhaps
Mrs. van Daan does, a bit more than Mother. Oh, I wish I could have said something to poor Bep, something that I know from my own experience would have helped. But Father came between us, pushing me roughly aside. Theyre all so stupid!
I also talked tot about Father and Mother, about how could be here i