“We just wanted to get out of there, to get away and reach our destination in safety. Nothing else mattered.”

“We are shut up here, shut away from the world, in fear and anxiety, especially just lately. Why, then, would we who love each other remain apart? Why should we wait until we've reached suitable age? Why should we bother?”

“Leave me alone, let me have at least one night when I don't cry myself to sleep with eyes burning and my head pounding. Let me get away, away from everything, away from this world!”

“Who has inflicted this upon us? Who has made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is God that has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason alone do we have to suffer now. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any country for that matter; we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too.”

“Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I’ve never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year old schoolgirl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest.”

“Once again St. Nicholas DayHas even come to our hideaway;It won't be quite as fun, I fear,As the happy day we had last year.Then we were hopeful, no reason to doubtThat optimism would win the bout,And by the time this year came round,We'd all be free, and safe and sound.Still, let's not forget it's St. Nicholas Day,Though we've nothing left to give away.We'll have to find something else to do:So everyone please look in their shoe!”

“I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, and keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if....if only there were no other people in the world.”