Chronology of Anne's Re-writing her Diary for Publication

Anne Frank Diary Reference (to rewrites' page use)

Chronology of Anne's Re-writing her Diary for Publication

early March 1944 Anne had re-read her diaries thus far, has contemplated the change in herself, and told Peter he might read some of her diary sometime.

25 March 1944 Anne wants to live on, even after death

28 March 1944 They hear a radio address talking of publishing war diaries after the war.

29 March 1944 In her diary, she mentions the radio address.

5 April 1944 In her diary, she goes over her hopes and doubts about someday being a writer.

14 April 1944 In her diary, she wonders whether the "unbosomings of an ugly duckling" will be of any use to them, after all. "Sometimes I very much doubt whether in the future anyone will be interested in all my tosh."

18 April 1944 (She starts using the fourth diary.)

11 May 1944 In her diary, she writes that she wants to publish a book, Het Achterhuis (the house behind) after the war, using her diary as a reference. (She is also determined to finish Cady's Life, her longest fictional story.)

20 May 1944 In her diary, she writes that, after a good deal of reflection, she has started the re-write: in her mind, it's as good as finished.

15 July 1944 By handwriting experts' analysis, this is the apparent start of vigorous re-write activity. This activity accounts for about half of the rewrites sheets, which suggests just how determined she had become. Assuming she started the re-writes on 20 May (see above), she had been re-writing an average of 2.1 page sides per day up until here. (Alternatively, and less likely, if she started the re-writes on 29 March, the day after the radio address, this prior rate was 1.3 page sides per day.) At this point, her average jumped to 8.1 page sides per day. (The handwriting analysis states that she was writing an average of 11 page sides a day from here, on through the first of August, but my calculations yield an average of 8.1 page sides a day. I think they rounded to 14 days [two weeks] for 162 page sides. Counting this day through 3 Aug is actually 20 days, instead. Or perhaps they rounded to three weeks and wrote two weeks by mistake. I don't see why they assumed that she stopped writing on 1 August, the last diary entry, when the raid was the morning of the fourth. Perhaps handwriting changes from day to day and the last rewrite had the same characteristics as the last entry.)

4 August 1944 Everyone in hiding, plus two helpers, are taken away in the raid, Miep (and the other workers still present) collect the diaries and every loose sheet (with writing) that can be found. Also collected: a photograph album and Anne's combing shawl.

Question: the last of Anne's rewrites is for 29 March 1944, the date she had written about the radio address. Was this purely coincidence? Or had she stopped, given a bit of pause about the likelihood or unlikelihood of getting published?

Last Update: 11 December 2003

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early March 1944	Anne had re-read her diaries thus far, has contemplated the change in herself, and told Peter he might read some of her diary sometime.
25 March 1944	Anne wants to live on, even after death
28 March 1944	They hear a radio address talking of publishing war diaries after the war.
29 March 1944	In her diary, she mentions the radio address.
5 April 1944	In her diary, she goes over her hopes and doubts about someday being a writer.
14 April 1944	In her diary, she wonders whether the "unbosomings of an ugly duckling" will be of any use to them, after all. "Sometimes I very much doubt whether in the future anyone will be interested in all my tosh."
18 April 1944	(She starts using the fourth diary.)
11 May 1944	In her diary, she writes that she wants to publish a book, Het Achterhuis (the house behind) after the war, using her diary as a reference. (She is also determined to finish Cady's Life, her longest fictional story.)
20 May 1944	In her diary, she writes that, after a good deal of reflection, she has started the re-write: in her mind, it's as good as finished.
15 July 1944	By handwriting experts' analysis, this is the apparent start of vigorous re-write activity. This activity accounts for about half of the rewrites sheets, which suggests just how determined she had become. Assuming she started the re-writes on 20 May (see above), she had been re-writing an average of 2.1 page sides per day up until here. (Alternatively, and less likely, if she started the re-writes on 29 March, the day after the radio address, this prior rate was 1.3 page sides per day.) At this point, her average jumped to 8.1 page sides per day. (The handwriting analysis states that she was writing an average of 11 page sides a day from here, on through the first of August, but my calculations yield an average of 8.1 page sides a day. I think they rounded to 14 days [two weeks] for 162 page sides. Counting this day through 3 Aug is actually 20 days, instead. Or perhaps they rounded to three weeks and wrote two weeks by mistake. I don't see why they assumed that she stopped writing on 1 August, the last diary entry, when the raid was the morning of the fourth. Perhaps handwriting changes from day to day and the last rewrite had the same characteristics as the last entry.)
4 August 1944	Everyone in hiding, plus two helpers, are taken away in the raid, Miep (and the other workers still present) collect the diaries and every loose sheet (with writing) that can be found. Also collected: a photograph album and Anne's combing shawl.