By: Ciara Richardson ylTfSIFd8

Jacqueline VanMaarsen grew up better than most children. Her parents had great jobs and so she lived in a big house with a maid, a butler, and a nanny. As far as Jacqueline could tell, her life was pretty perfect. That is until May 10, 1940, when her whole life changed….

What would you do if your country became taken over by Germany?

What would you do if the Germans were killing Jews….

And you are half Jewish?

How would you react if your parents lost their jobs because of the new Jewish rules?

What would you think if you were no longer allowed at your regular school and had to bike miles to the only Jewish school?

How would you feel if your friends, neighbors, and family were getting shipped off to concentration camps and you started receiving letters that they were dead?

What would you do if your best friend, Anne Frank, went into hiding and you knew that you would probably never see her again?

Would you fight to escape Nazi deportation if you were only half Jewish?

Even if surviving meant watching the people around you disappear one by one?

What would you do if you received a goodbye letter from your best friend, Anne Frank, after she already lost her life?

Dear Jacqueline, I am writing this letter in order to bid you goodbye. That will probably surprise you, but fate has decreed that I must leave (as you will of course have heard a long time ago) with my family, for reasons you will know. When you telephoned me on Sunday afternoon I couldn't’t say anything, for my mother had told me not to, the whole house was upside down and the front door was locked… I can’t write to everyone and that’s why I’m just writing to you. I’m taking it that you won’t talk to anybody about the letter nor from whom you got it. I would be so grateful if you would be really nice and keep up a secret correspondence with me. All enquiries to Mrs. Gies!!!! I hope we’ll meet again soon, but it probably won’t be before the end of the war. If Lies or anyone else asks you if you’ve heard anything from me say absolutely nothing, otherwise you’ll get us and Mrs. Gies into mortal trouble, so I hope you’ll be really careful. Later, of course, you’ll be able to tell people that you had a farewell letter from me… Well then, Jackie, I hope things go well with you, that I hear from you soon and that we’ll meet again soon. Your best friend, Anne P.S. I hope that we’ll always stay best friends until we meet again.

How would you react to the fame and questions about your best friend when all you want is to have her still be alive?

Everyone knows about Anne Frank and her time during the holocaust. Some people even remember that she wrote about a girl named “Jopie” in her diary. But who actually knows who Jopie is? Jopie, or Jacqueline, was Anne Frank’s best friend and this is her story.

A Friend Called Anne By: Carol Ann Lee