Hidden Pages in Anne Frank’s Diary Reveal Her Curiosity About Sex, Puberty, and Prostitution
Using digital imaging technology, Dutch researchers uncover two long-concealed pages in Anne Frank’s famous diary, offering a deeper understanding of her as both a teenager and a budding writer.
AMSTERDAM – More than 80 years after Anne Frank first penned her now world-renowned diary, Dutch researchers have digitally uncovered two pages she had carefully obscured. Covered with brown adhesive paper, the hidden pages contain a mix of what Anne herself called “dirty jokes” and candid reflections on sexuality, menstruation, contraception, and prostitution.
The remarkable discovery was made using digital photography techniques by researchers from the Anne Frank House, the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. They photographed the pages backlit by flash, allowing them to use imaging software to digitally enhance and decipher the overlapping texts.
Why Were the Pages Covered?
Dated September 28, 1942, the entries were written in the red-and-white checkered diary Anne received for her 13th birthday, shortly before she and her family went into hiding in a secret annex above a warehouse in Amsterdam. For decades, the contents of these two pages remained a mystery, shielded behind layers of sticky brown paper.
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| Anne Frank's diaries are on display in the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam |
Experts believe Anne may have covered the entries out of embarrassment or concern that her private thoughts might be discovered by the adults she lived with in hiding—her parents, the Van Pels family, or dentist Fritz Pfeffer. Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House, commented, “She was probably afraid that other people she was hiding with… would discover her diary and would read these things.”
What Did the Hidden Pages Contain?
The uncovered content reveals four jokes and several paragraphs exploring sexual topics. Though Anne referred to the jokes as “dirty,” researchers emphasized that they are typical of many adolescents' humor and curiosity.
Among the jokes, Anne included a satirical line about German soldiers in occupied Holland:
“Do you know why the German Wehrmacht girls are in Holland? As mattresses for the soldiers.”
Other content described how girls begin menstruating around age 14, which Anne noted as a sign of sexual maturity—though she added, “one doesn’t do that of course before one is married.” She also wrote about prostitution, stating:
“All men, if they are normal, go with women, women like that accost them on the street and then they go together. In Paris they have big houses for that. Papa has been there.”
A Glimpse Into Anne’s Development
Historians say the newly discovered pages are less about Anne’s interest in sex and more indicative of her growth as a writer and thinker. Frank van Vree, director of the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, noted:
“Anyone who reads the passages that have now been discovered will be unable to suppress a smile. The ‘dirty’ jokes are classics among growing children. They make it clear that Anne, with all her gifts, was above all also an ordinary girl.”
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| Fleeing from the Nazis In 1933, Anne Frank and her family fled from Germany to the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. In the Second World War, she had to go into hiding under the German occupation. For two years, she lived concealed in the secret annex of a house in Amsterdam. But someone betrayed her: On August 4, 1944, her family was found, arrested and deported to Auschwitz. |
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| Family ties Anne Frank (front left) had a sister Margot (back right) who was three-and-a-half years older than she was. Her father, Otto Frank, took this photo on Margot's eighth birthday in February 1934, when the family was already in exile in the Netherlands. |
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| The hiding place in Amsterdam Anne's father was able to found a company in Amsterdam. It had its headquarters in this building (c.). Otto organized the "secret annex" above and behind the premises. The family of four lived there from 1942 to 1944, together with four other people on the run from the Nazis. It was here that Anne Frank wrote her world- famous diary. The Anne Frank House has been a museum since 1960. |
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| A diary as best friend From the start, Anne wrote in her diary almost every day. It became a kind of friend to her, and she called it Kitty. The life she led was completely different from her previous, carefree existence. "What I like the most is that I can at least write down what I think and feel, otherwise I would completely suffocate," she penned. |
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| Death in Bergen-Belsen - Anne Frank and her sister were taken from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen on October 30, 1944. More than 70,000 people died in this concentration camp. After the liberation of the camp, the victims were transported to mass graves under the supervision of British soldiers. Anne and Margot Frank were among those who died there from typhus, at an unknown date in March 1945. Anne was just 15 years old. |
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| Anne's tombstone Anne's tombstone also stands in Bergen-Belsen. This Jewish girl from Frankfurt had imagined her life differently."I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to bring joy and aid to the people who live around me, but who don't know me all the same. I want to live on, even after my death," she wrote in her diary on April 5, 1944. |
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| Made famous by a diary - Her great dream was to become a journalist or author. Thanks to her father, her diary was published on July 25, 1947. An English version was brought out in 1952. Anne Frank became a symbol for the victims of the Nazi dictatorship. "We all live with the aim of attaining happiness; we all live differently, but the same."- Anne Frank, July 6, 1944. |
These entries reflect the intellectual and emotional development of a teenager coming of age under extraordinary circumstances. During the final months in hiding, Anne often revised earlier entries, especially after hearing a 1944 radio broadcast by the Dutch government-in-exile that encouraged citizens to document their wartime experiences.
Legacy and Future Publication
Though the hidden pages add valuable context to Anne’s story, whether they will be included in future editions of The Diary of Anne Frank remains uncertain due to copyright limitations. However, their discovery reinforces the enduring human depth of Anne Frank’s writing and legacy.
After the Frank family was betrayed in August 1944, Anne and her sister Margot were deported to Bergen-Belsen, where they died in early 1945. Only Otto Frank, Anne’s father, survived and later published her diary, which has since become a universal symbol of resilience, innocence, and the horrors of the Holocaust.
