The Swiss Sanctuary
Before the world shrank to a few hidden rooms, Anne Frank’s world was one of sun-drenched holidays and carefree days. In September 1935, a six-year-old Anne spent a few blissful days with her grandmother in Sils Maria, a beautiful mountain village in Switzerland. They stayed in the luxurious Villa Laret, where Anne played with her cousin, Bernd, in the fresh, clean air. She seemed “relaxed and happy,” a simple memory that now carries an immeasurable weight.
She returned to this sanctuary the following summer, in 1936, this time with her mother, Edith, and her sister, Margot. These trips were not just vacations; they were moments of peace and normalcy, a brief escape from the dark clouds that were beginning to gather over Europe.
By July 1941, the world had changed completely. The Frank family was trapped in the Netherlands, unable to travel abroad. The freedoms they once enjoyed were slowly being taken away. In a letter to her grandmother, Anne’s longing for that lost world is palpable. She asked a simple but heartbreaking question: “How are things with you? Is it nice in Sils Maria?”
This question was more than just a polite inquiry. It was a lifeline to a memory, a desperate hope that a place of beauty and happiness still existed. It was a young girl clinging to the memory of a carefree time, even as her own life was becoming more and more defined by fear and restriction. The memory of Sils Maria was her sanctuary, a place she could return to in her mind, a quiet space of peace that they could never take away from her.
