The Best Friend Who Lived
The story of Anne Frank is often told through her diary, but her life was also defined by the people she loved. One of the most important was Jacqueline van Maarsen, her best friend.
Jacqueline was born in Amsterdam on January 31, 1929. She met Anne in 1941 at the Jewish Lyceum, and their friendship was immediate and intense. Anne was immediately captivated by Jacqueline’s “dark hair and huge, enviably eyes.” For Anne, Jacqueline became an all-consuming passion. She constantly suggested sleepovers and even asked Jacqueline to accompany her to math tutoring, trying to weave their lives together as closely as possible.
But their short friendship was not without its challenges. Anne’s possessiveness could be overwhelming, and their bond was marked by conflicts and jealousy. Anne didn’t suffer rivals gladly, a testament to her strong will and complex personality.
The friendship ended abruptly on July 5, 1942, the day before the Frank family went into hiding. Jacqueline called Anne’s home, but Anne, bound by the terrible secret, couldn’t say anything. Months later, in the quiet of the Secret Annex, Anne wrote a “fare-well letter” in her diary, a final, heartbreaking tribute to her best friend.
Unlike Anne, Jacqueline and her family survived the war. Her mother, a Christian, managed to convince an official that her Jewish husband had registered the children against her will. Jacqueline was able to remove her Jewish star and transfer to a different school, escaping the fate that awaited so many others.
Today, Jacqueline van Maarsen still lives in Amsterdam, a living testament to a friendship that was both beautiful and tragically cut short. She is a powerful link to Anne Frank’s pre-hiding life, a reminder that Anne was a real girl with real friendships, a girl who, like all of us, simply wanted a best friend.
