tuesday, may 18, 1943

dearest kit,

i recently witnessed a fierce dogfight between german and english pilots. unfortunately, a couple of allied airmen had to jump out of their burning plane. our milkman, who lives in halfweg, saw four canadians sitting along the side of the road, and one of them spoke fluent dutch. he asked the milkman if he had a light for his cigarette, and then told him the crew had consisted of six men. the pilot had been burned to death, and the fifth crew member had hidden himself somewhere. the german security police came to pick up the four remaining men, none of whom were injured. after parachuting out of a flaming plane, how can anyone have such presence of mind?

although it's undeniably hot, we have to light a fire every other day to burn our vegetable peelings and garbage. we can't throw anything into trash cans, because the warehouse employees might see it. one small act of carelessness and we're done for!

all college students are being asked to sign an official statement to the effect that they "sympathize with the germans and approve of the new order." eighty percent have decided to obey the dictates of their conscience, but the penalty will be severe. any student refusing to sign will be sent to a german labor camp. what's to become of the youth of our country if they've all got to do hard labor in germany?

last night the guns were making so much noise that mother shut the window; i was in pim's bed. suddenly, right above our heads, we heard mrs. van d. leap up, as if she'd been bitten by mouschi. this was followed by a loud boom, which sounded as if a firebomb had landed beside my bed. "lights! lights!" i screamed.

pim switched on the lamp. i expected the room to burst into flames any minute. nothing happened. we all rushed upstairs to see what was going on. mr. and mrs. van d. had seen a red glow through the open window, and he thought there was a fire nearby, while she was certain our house was ablaze. mrs. van d. was already standing beside her bed with her knees knocking when the boom came. dussel stayed upstairs to smoke a cigarette, and we crawled back into bed. less than fifteen minutes later the shooting started again. mrs. van d. sprang out of bed and went downstairs to dussel' s room to seek the comfort she was unable to find with her spouse. dussel welcomed her with the words "come into my bed, my child!"

we burst into peals of laughter, and the roar of the guns bothered us no more; our fears had all been swept away.

yours, anne