Anne Frank undergoes various moods while in hiding in the secret annexe. Even before coming to the annexe “the good times were few and far between after May, 1940. Their freedom was severely restricted by a series of anti-Jewish decrees. Jews were required to wear a yellow star. They were forbidden to use trams and ride in cars, even their own.
But still they were living under the open sky. No doubt, Anne doesn’t feel at home in the annexe but it doesn’t mean she hated it. In the beginning and very often she calls it probably the most comfortable hiding place in all of Amesterdam. “No, in all of Holland”. But she has her own fears. Anne writes as early as on 28 September, 1942: “Not being able to go outside upsets me ........... and I’m terrified our hiding place will be discovered and that we’ll be shot.”
Anne’s general mood varies from time to time. She can’t stand her mother and finds her unresponsive and critical. She is a “stranger” to her. She doesn’t get along with Margot very well either. She can’t open her heart to anyone, not even to her father whom she adores. She is about to get her first periods and needs an emotional support. Naturally, she gets attracted towards Peter with whom she could talk openly on sex and sexuality.
The food in the annexe is horrible. Breakfast consists of plain, unbuttered bread and coffee. Lunch consists of either spinach or cooked lettuce, with rotten potatoes with sweetish taste. But still she thinks that they “live in a paradise compared with the Jews who aren’t in hibling”. There have been frequent break-ins. Once the burglars make a forced entry and open the warehouse door with a crowbar. They steal two cash boxes from the next floor containing 40 guilders, blank cheque books and coupons for 330 pounds of sugar, their entire allotment. It is really a big loss. But still Anne thinks themselves fortunate compared to other Jewish children who suffer outside. She always thinks of Hanneli and her sufferings. She sometimes dream of most awful things and want to scream. She can pray only to God to perform a miracle and save Hanneli and other Jews from tortures and sufferings. Hanneli symbolises the sufferings of her friends as well as that of the Jews in general
