saturday, march 27, 1943

dearest kitty,

we've finished our shorthand course and are now working on improving our speed. aren't we smart! let me tell you more about my "time killers" (this is what i call my courses, because all we ever do is try to make the days go by as quickly as possible so we are that much closer to the end of our time here). i adore mythology, espe cially the greek and roman gods. everyone here thinks my interest is just a passing fancy, since they've never heard of a teenager with an appreciation of mythology. well then, i guess i'm the first!

mr. van daan has a cold. or rather, he has a scratchy throat, but he's making an enormous to-do over it. he gargles with camomile tea, coats the roof of his mouth with a tincture of myrrh and rubs mentholatum over his chest, nose, gums and tongue. and to top it off, he's in a foul mood!

rauter, some german bigwig, recently gave a speech. "all jews must be out of the german-occupied territories before july 1. the province of utrecht will be cleansed of jews [as if they were cockroaches] between april 1 and may 1, and the provinces of north and south holland between may 1 and june 1." these poor people are being shipped off to filthiy slaughterhouses like a herd of sick and neglected cattle. but i'll say no more on the subject. my own thoughts give me nightmares!

one good piece of news is that the labor exchange was set on fire in an act of sabotage. a few days later the county clerk's office also went up in flames. men posing as german police bound and gagged the guards and managed to destroy some important documents.

yours, anne