When I was four, I had just arrived in Amsterdam with my parents, escaping Berlin after Hitler came to power and fired my father, a deputy cabinet member in the Prussian government during the Weimar Republic. One day, not long after our arrival, I walked hand in hand with my mother to a local grocery. There, my mother noticed another woman talking in German to her dark-eyed daughter, who was about my age. The two mothers spoke briefly to one another, smiling, clearly relieved to find some familiarity in this foreign place.
I was a shy child and I clung to my mother’s leg, unused to other children but curious about the little girl looking back at me.
She was to be my very first friend. A childhood playmate, neighbour and school friend. Our families became close as they navigated life as refugees in a new city, sharing their fears as the war, occupation and all that would mean for us moved inexorably closer.
That little girl, so full of life, would become the most famous victim of the Holocaust. A symbol, in many ways, of all the hope and promise that was lost to hatred and murder. Talking about her story, our story, would later become a thread that bound me to her and kept our friendship alive long after she was gone. But from when we first met to when she abruptly disappeared from my life, not long before my 14th birthday, to reappear fleetingly in the strangest and most tragic of ways, she was simply my friend, Anne Frank.
I was shy on a good day, but setting off for my first day of nursery school at the 6th Montessori School on Niersstraat, was positively petrified. I spotted a girl with glossy dark hair that was almost black. I couldn’t see her face as her back was turned towards me. She was playing on a set of silver bells. In that moment, she turned around and looked at me. In a flash, we recognised one another. It was the girl from the corner grocery store!
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2023 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2023 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Spotlight on Vitamin D
Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D, but safe sun exposure is still essential.
Coming up roses
Driven by a renewed interest in the flower’s power, a rose renaissance is dawning.
'I was given a 5% chance of survival'
When Caroline Laner Breure was hit by a car in an horrific accident on a Spanish holiday with her boyfriend, her body and her dreams were shattered. Somehow she found the will to go on living.
Time to celebrate our mothers
Author Kathy Lette gives a heartfelt thank you to her magnificent mum, Val - a baker of fairy cakes with the patience of a saint.
"I am lucky to be here" ”
Since the day she walked onto the MasterChef Australia set back in 2009, Julie Goodwin has openly shared her life. But in writing a memoir, she had to examine the demons she'd battled privately... until now.
JAMIE OLIVER at your service
Returning to the set of MasterChef Australia to help steer a path through grief and spread happiness, the celebrity chef is also at a turning point - he opens up about failure, love, second chances and his endless reservoir of joie de vivre.
From one mum to another
Princess Catherine's public announcement struck a chord with mum-of-two Jane Gillard. She shares her story of parenting through cancer- and offers hope for the princess and mums navigating their own health journey while raising primary-aged kids.
The courage of Princess Catherine "You are„, not alone"
It was a rare personal address that she shouldn’t have had to make. But with conspiracy theories swirling and the slimmed-down “Firm” under fire, Princess Catherine silenced critics with searing courage and dignity.
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE
When Tracy Hall fell for Max Tavita, she fell for a mirage. Max was a false identity created by a con man, and Tracy was the latest in a long line of women whose life savings hed stolen.
Amother's GIFT
In December last year, Australia’s first uterus transplant recipient, Kirsty Bryant, gave birth to Henry, a happy, healthy baby boy. The uterus that had made this little miracle possible had been donated by her mother, Michelle. Five months later, their first Mother’s Day since Henry’s birth feels especially precious.