Anne Frank's Hidden Diary Pages Revealed

Posted on May 16, 2018

Anne Frank kept two pages of her diary covered up with brown gummed paper. Researchers used new technology to make this hidden text legible. It turns out that Anne kept dirty jokes and sex education information on the pages.

Anne wrote on the pages, "I'll use this spoiled page to write down 'dirty' jokes." She did write at times about her concerns that her diary would be read or taken away from her. The researchers say the hidden pages contained "five crossed-out phrases, four “dirty” jokes and 33 lines about sex education and prostitution."

The research was conducted by the Anne Frank House, together with the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The pages were photographed during a regular check on the diary's condition in 2016. New image processing technology made it possible to decipher the text using these photographs.

Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House, says in a statement, "Anne Frank writes about sexuality in a disarming way. Like every adolescent she is curious about this subject. She also writes about it on other, uncovered pages. Given the great public and academic interest we have decided, together with the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands, to publish these texts and share them with the world. They bring us even closer to the girl and the writer Anne Frank."