Anne Frank's "one true love"

by amyjudd | February 27, 2008 at 03:28 pm

2553 views | 7 Recommendations | 20 comments

A photo of the boy with the 'beautiful brown eyes' who captured Anne Frank's attention in her short and dangerous life, will go in display in Amsterdam for the first time, after a childhood friend of his, Ernst Michaelis, realized he probably had the only known picture of the young boy.
Peter has been immortalized in Anne's diary - one of the best accounts of hiding from the Nazis in WWII, but this is the first time people will be able to see the boy as Anne knew and loved him.

Frank's Jewish family fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and settled in Amsterdam. During World War Two the Nazis occupied the Netherlands and began deporting Jews to the death camps in 1942, prompting the Frank family to go into hiding.

They lived in a secret annex in a canal-side house for more than two years before their hiding place was betrayed and the family sent to concentration camps.

Anne recorded her years in the attic hideaway in her
diaries. A Dutch woman who helped the family found them in the annex after Anne's arrest and gave them to her father Otto who survived the Holocaust. They became famous around the world.

She writes in her diary: "I forgot that I haven't yet told
you the story of my one true love."

"Peter was the ideal boy: tall, slim and good-looking, with a serious, quiet and intelligent face," Anne wrote of the 13-year-old she had fallen for in 1940 when she was just 11.

SCHOOL FRIENDS

They would collect each other from school and walk hand in hand through their local neighborhood.

"He had dark hair, beautiful brown eyes, ruddy cheeks and a nicely pointed nose. I was crazy about his smile, which made him look so boyish and mischievous."

Peter later died in Auschwitz, while Anne died in Bergen
Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Michaelis, now 81, had attended a Jewish school with Schiff in Berlin in the 1930s before both families fled the Nazis. When they parted, the boys exchanged photographs.

"He read the diary in the 1950s and thought that Peter
Schiff was very likely his friend. But it was only when reading it later that he saw there were no photos and so he contacted us," said a museum spokeswoman.

Anne last saw Peter a few days before she moved into the annexe, but wrote of him in her diary more than 1-1/2 years later after dreaming of him.

"I've never had such a clear mental image of him. I don't need a photograph, I can see him oh so well," she said.

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dunkelberg

at 15:49 on February 27th, 2008

What a bittersweet story.

It's not often that there is a point where people are reminded that the millions of victims of the Holocaust were actual, living, loving persons.

amyjudd

at 16:17 on February 27th, 2008

I know. Anne is probably considered the poster child for victims of the Holocaust, but it's a story like this that enables you to take a step back and think about what her life must have been like and how she is still affecting our lives today. Amazing.

dunkelberg

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:45 on February 27th, 2008

I'll get this flagging stuff down yet.

artbymarilyn

at 20:37 on February 27th, 2008

I am an artist. This picture is on www.artbymarilyn.etsy.com The reason I painted it is because her spirit lives on and the young heroine should never be forgotten.

What a fine young lady she just wanted to be and she was so lively and lovely according to everything I have read. I just needed my right to support this young girl so she will always live on in generation-after-generation.

artbymarilyn has contributed a photo to this story.

Karen Elizabeth

at 20:37 on February 27th, 2008

I came across this on an online News Bulletin. Very fascinating. I hope you enjoy it.

Karen Elizabeth has contributed a photo to this story.

honza.haubert

at 22:44 on February 27th, 2008

This is Anne Frank's house from outside. You will surely recognize it, there's always a line waiting to get in.

honza.haubert has contributed a photo to this story.

Anders_P

at 01:34 on February 28th, 2008

A statue of Anne Frank, close to her home in Amsterdam

Anders_P has contributed a photo to this story.

elise.vikander

at 01:59 on February 28th, 2008

I spotted this beautiful piece of art on a house wall in Amsterdam. It is a powerful image showing the Jewish girl Anne Frank with a "Palestine scarf".

elise.vikander has contributed a photo to this story.

GeeSpot

at 05:10 on February 28th, 2008

Street-art spotted on the streets of Amsterdam

GeeSpot has contributed a photo to this story.

melliemel

at 06:27 on February 28th, 2008

The photos were taken in Feb 2005. I lived in Amsterdam from 2000-2001 and went back a few years later to show friends my favorite city. We went to the Anne Frank House early one morning and were the first people in line that day. I highly recommend visiting the museum early in the morning, as it is quiet and serene...exactly the kind of feeling you want to have when visiting this amazing place in history. Walking through the house where Anne and the others lived is remarkable. Sliding behind the bookcase (with books still in place) and up the stairs feels quite surreal. Seeing all of the photos and magazine clippings she posted on the walls of her tiny room, reminds us that she was a teenager just like we were, who dreamed of movie stars and life in the future. We were both very emotional for hours after our visit and really felt her beautiful presence in that house.

melliemel has contributed a photo to this story.

andrew_brooks86

at 11:45 on February 28th, 2008

On a cloudy day in Amsterdam Jan '08, the ability to look around Anne Frank's house, was both sobering and extremely thought provoking

andrew_brooks86 has contributed a photo to this story.

debjay1

at 15:15 on February 28th, 2008

I travelled to Germany to see family and was taken to Bergen Belsen. There are lots of stone walls dotted around for those who are buried there in mass graves and on the tops of them are stones and candles, which is a Jewish tradition of rememberance.

debjay1 has contributed a photo to this story.

antaeusguy

at 00:21 on March 3rd, 2008

A must visit place for any Anne Frank Diary readers, try to get in early in the morning (you can reserve your tickets at the visitor centre near Amsterdam Centraal) to avoid sold-out situations.

antaeusguy has contributed a photo to this story.

silross

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 03:36 on March 4th, 2008

Beautiful story... it reminds me exactly of my journey to Amsterdam and to Anne's house.

silross

at 03:37 on March 4th, 2008

silross

at 03:41 on March 4th, 2008

Beautiful story, I like it very much!

lucas_jrs

at 12:48 on March 5th, 2008

This foto is taken from in front of Anne Frank's House by me. Also, shows the front of the House.

Amsterdam, January 2008

lucas_jrs has contributed a photo to this story.

alisamichelledesigns

at 20:51 on March 8th, 2008

This is the sign outside of the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. It was a great experience being there and seeing the world through her eyes.

alisamichelledesigns has contributed a photo to this story.

just this girl.

at 11:14 on March 10th, 2008

when my dad announced we were going to Amsterdam, i just had to twist my mum and dad's back to get them to take me to Anne Frank's house. I took this photo myself, only later did i discover this was their back door. I have promised myself to go back again, i can promise you it's worth it.

just this girl. has contributed a photo to this story.