warehouse door and the door opening on to the street were ajar. He told Pim, who tuned the radio in the private office to Germany and locked the door. Then they went upstairs together.
The standing orders for such times were observed as usual: no taps to be turned on, therefore, no washing, silence, everything to be finished by 8 o’clock and no lavatory. We were all very glad that we had slept so well and not heard anything. Not until half past eleven did we learn from Mr.
Kleiman that the burglars had pushed in the outer door with a crowbar and had forced the warehouse door. However, they did not find much to steal, so they tried their luck upstairs. They stole two cashboxes containing forty guilders, postal orders and checkbooks and then, worst of all, the coupons for 330 pounds of sugar.
Mr. Kleiman thinks that they belonged to the same gang as the ones who tried all three doors six weeks ago. They were unsuccessful then.
It has caused rather a stir in the building, but the ‘Secret Annexe’ can’t seem to go on without sensations like this. We were very glad that the typewriters and money in our wardrobe, where they are brought upstairs every evening, were safe.
Yours, Anne
Monday, 19 July, 1943
Dear Kitty, North Amsterdam was very heavily bombed on Sunday. The destruction seems to be terrible. Whole streets lie in ruins, and it will take a long time before all the people are dug out. Up till now there are two hundred dead and countless wounded; the hospitals are crammed. You hear of children lost in the smouldering ruins, looking for their parents.
