friday, march 31, 1944

dearest kitty,

just imagine, it's still fairly cold, and yet most people have been without coal for nearly a month. sounds awful, doesn't it? there's a general mood of optimism about the russian front, because that's going great guns! i don't often write about the political situation, but i must tell you where the russians are at the moment. they've reached the polish border and the prut river in romania. they're close to odessa, and they've surrounded ternopol. every night we're expecting an extra communique from stalin.

they're firing off so many salutes in moscow, the city must be rumbling and shaking all day long. whether they like to pretend the fighting's nearby or they simply don't have any other way to express their joy, i don't know!

hungary has been occupied by german troops.

there are still a million jews living there; they too are doomed.

nothing special is happening here. today is mr. van daan's birthday. he received two packets of tobacco, one serving of coffee, which his wife had managed to save, lemon punch from mr. kugler, sardines from miep, eau de cologne from us, lilacs, tulips and, last but not least, a cake with raspberry filling, slightly gluey because of the poor quality of the flour and the lack of butter, but deli- cious anyway.

all that talk about peter and me has died down a bit. he's coming to pick me up tonight. pretty nice of him, don't you think, since he hates doing it! we're very good friends. we spend a lot of time together and talk about every imaginable subject. it's so nice not having to hold back when we come to a delicate topic, the way i would with other boys. for example, we were talking about blood and somehow the conversation turned to menstruation, etc. he thinks we women are quite tough to be able to withstand the loss of blood, and that i am too. i wonder why?

my life here has gotten better, much better. god has not forsaken me, and he never will.

yours, anne m. fran

k