PEEDEV NOTES

This is an extract taken from Anne Frank’s famous diary, she wrote it while her family were hiding
during the Second World War. "Our many Jewish friends and acquaintances are being taken away in
droves. The Gestapo is treating them very roughly and transporting them in cattle cars to
Westerbork, the big camp in Drenthe to which they're sending all the Jews....If it's that bad in
Holland, what must it be like in those faraway and uncivilized places where the Germans are sending
them? We assume that most of them are being murdered. The English radio says they're being
gassed. I've reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on
turning without me, and I can't do anything to change events anyway. I'll just let matters take their
course and concentrate on studying and hope that everything will be all right in the end.”

29th November 1901 Dear Diary, I am getting more worried by the day! Every time I stay in this
dreadful place I hear all kinds of noises and sounds and I see shadowy figures walk past the end of
my bed!! Last night I woke up and heard an old fashioned nursery rhyme being sung by what
sounded like young girls, I could also smell a strong scent of liquorice. When I got up and turned on
the light both the singing and the smell vanished. I am so scared and the main problem is no one
believes me. The landlady just tells me to keep working. Change those beds, polish the silver, sweep
the floor. I think I am going mad! I will go again tonight and look in ‘R

I felt shock. I felt a great emptiness within me, which then filled with silence. My chest hurt with pain
and fear for days afterwards. I think there was an explosion. But I can’t be sure. It happened while I
was sleeping. It woke me up. The ship was no luxury liner. It was a grimy, hardworking cargo ship not
designed for paying passengers or for their comfort. I woke up with a start, as if Ravi had burst a
balloon in my ears. I looked at my watch. It was just after four-thirty in the morning. I leaned over
and looked down at the bunk below. Ravi was still sleeping.