The Best Friend
Jacqueline van Maarsen, born in Amsterdam on January 30, 1929, was Anne Frank’s “best friend.” Their friendship began in 1941 at the Jewish Lyceum and was marked by an immediate and intense connection. Anne was instantly captivated by Jacqueline’s beauty, particularly her “dark hair and huge, enviably eyes” which Anne noted right away.
The friendship was all-consuming for Anne. She would have spent all her time with Jacqueline, constantly suggesting overnights and even asking her to come along to her math tutoring sessions. However, the friendship was not without its difficulties. Jacqueline sometimes found Anne’s possessiveness overwhelming, and their short bond was intense, featuring both conflict and jealousy, as Anne “didn’t suffer rivals gladly.”
A Silent Farewell
The final moments of their friendship were heartbreakingly sudden and silent. Jacqueline called Anne the day before the Frank family went into hiding, but Anne, bound by the secrecy of their imminent departure, “couldn’t say anything.” More than two months later, Anne wrote the “promised fare-well letter” in her diary, a poignant acknowledgment of the friend she had to leave behind.
Jacqueline and her family survived the war due to a courageous and quick-witted act by her mother. Her mother, who was Christian, managed to convince an official that her Jewish husband had registered their children in the Jewish congregation against her will. This allowed Jacqueline to take off her Jewish star and switch from the Jewish Lyceum to a girls’ Lyceum, saving her life.
Jacqueline van Maarsen still lives in Amsterdam, a living witness to Anne’s vibrant, complex life and the best friend she never forgot.
