friday, july 16, 1943

dearest kitty,

there's been another break-in, but this time a real one! peter went down to the warehouse this morning at seven, as usual, and noticed at once that both the warehouse door and the street door were open. he immediately reported this to pim, who went to the private office, tuned the radio to a german station and locked the door. then they both went back upstairs. in such cases our orders are not to wash ourselves or run any water, to be quiet, to be dressed by eight and not to go to the bathroom," and as usual we followed these to the letter. we were all glad we'd slept so well and hadn't heard anything. for a while we were indignant because no one from the office came upstairs the entire morning; mr. kleiman left us on tenterhooks until eleven-thirty. he told that the burglars had forced the outside door and the warehouse door with a crowbar, but when they didn't find anything worth stealing, they tried their luck on the next floor. they stole two cashboxes containing 40 guilders, blank checkbooks and, worst of all, coupons for 330 pounds of sugar, our entire allotment. it won't be easy to wangle new ones.

mr. kugler thinks this burglar belongs to the same gang as the one who made an unsuccessful attempt six weeks ago to open all three doors (the warehouse door and the two outside doors).

the burglary caused another stir, but the annex seems to thrive on excitement. naturally, we were glad the cash register and the typewriters had been safely tucked away in our clothes closet.

yours, anne

ps. landing in sicily. another step closer to the . . . !