Inheriting Anne Frank

Anne Frank and Jacqueline van Maarsen's friendship was short-lived -- spanning the nine months they were forced to attend the Jewish Lyceum in 1941-42. But what it lacked in time was made up for in intensity. In the opening pages of her Diary, Anne calls van Maarsen her best friend; and it is to her alone whom Anne writes a farewell letter from her isolated Secret Annex. For a long time after the war, van Maarsen chose to remain silent about her connection to Anne and the Diary (where is she referred to as "Jacque" or Jopie"). Hoping to clear up common misconceptions about her now-famous friend, she eventually came clean about her past and published a series of books on their relationship and her own tale of survival. She even appeared in the documentary Anne Frank Remembered.

The newest installation of van Maarsen's memoirs, called Inheriting Anne Frank, was just released in the UK last month, and looks like a worthwhile read. (Unfortunately, it isn't scheduled to be released here the US until this summer.)

More about the book from the Financial Times:

Following the end of the war and Frank’s death, van Maarsen struck a close and lasting friendship with Otto, her friend’s father, and became involved in his efforts to share the message of his daughter’s diary. The published work received a mixed reception from her contemporaries and an overwhelmingly positive one from young people.

Nonetheless, van Maarsen is critical of the commercialisation of the diary and its legacy, and of some of the work of the Anne Frank Foundation.

But Inheriting Anne Frank is also a historical document about the author’s own life, and in particular her relationship with a formidable mother, who died in 1992 aged 101. A lovely companion to what remains the most famous diary in the world.