tuesday, august 3, 1943

dearest kitty,

things are going well on the political front. italy has banned the fascist party. the people are fighting the fascists in many places -- even the army has joined the fight. how can a country like that continue to wage war against england?

our beautiful radio was taken away last week. dussel was very angry at mr. kugler for turning it in on the appointed day. dussel is slipping lower and lower in my estimation, and he's already below zero. hatever he says about politics, history, geography or ything else is so ridiculous that i hardly dare repeat it: hitler will fade from history; the harbor in rotterdam is bigger than the one in hamburg; the english are idiots for not taking the opportunity to bomb italy to smithereens; etc., etc.

we just had a third air raid. i decided to grit my teeth and practice being courageous.

mrs. van daan, the one who always said "let them fall" and "better to end with a bang than not to end at all," is the most cowardly one among us. she was shaking like a leaf this morning and even burst into tears. she was comforted by her husband, with whom she recently declared a truce after a week of squabbling; i nearly got sentimental at the sight.

mouschi has now proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that having a cat has disadvantages as well as advantages. the whole house is crawling with fleas, and it's getting worse each day. mr. kleiman sprinkled yellow powder in every nook and cranny, but the fleas haven't taken the slightest notice. it's making us all very jittery; we're forever imagining a bite on our arms and legs or other parts of our bodies, so we leap up and do a few exercises, since it gives us an excuse to take a better look at our arms or necks. but now we're paying the price for having had so little physical exercise; we're so stiff we can hardly turn our heads. the real calisthenics fell by the wayside long ago.

yours, anne