didn’t marry my mother until he was thirty-six and

she was twenty-five. My sister, Margot, was born in Frankfurt in Germany in . I was born on June . I lived in Frankfurt until I was four. My father emigrated to Holland in . My mother, Edith Hollander Frank, went with him to Holland in September, while Margot and I were sent to Aachen to stay with our grandmother. Margot went to Holland in December, and I followed in February, when I was plunked down on the table as a birthday present for Margot. I started right away at the Montessori nursery school. I stayed there until I was six, at which time I started in the first form. In the sixth form my teacher was Mrs Kuperus, the headmistress. At the end of the year we were both in tears as we said a heartbreaking farewell. In the summer of Grandma fell ill and had to have an operation, so my birthday passed with little celebration. Grandma died in January . No one knows how often I think of her and still love her. This birthday celebration in was intended to make up for the other, and Grandma’s candle was lit along with the rest. The four of us are still doing well, and that brings me to the present date of June , and the solemn dedication of my diary.