new findings

Like Any Teen, Anne Frank Tried to Hide Her Diary Entries About Sex

Anne Frank. Photo: Collectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam

Researchers have uncovered two pages that Anne Frank tried to hide from her diary involving what she referred to as “sexual matters.” The astute 13-year-old definitely knew what was going on inside of brothels.

“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,” Frank observed about prostitution.

Today the Anne Frank House and two other cultural institutions announced they were able to uncover the hidden text using new technology, according to the New York Times. Like many a bashful teen, Frank tried to hide her thoughts, pasting brown paper over the naughty bits in her notebook.

It’s suspected she was hiding her writing from her father or others living with her in close quarters in an attic while hiding from Nazis during World War II.

“I sometimes imagine that someone might come to me and ask me to inform him about sexual matters. How would I go about it?” Frank wrote in her native Dutch. She describes sex as “rhythmical movements,” calls birth control “internal medicament,” and explains menstruation as “a sign that she is ripe.”

Researchers found the pages in the original version of the diary while checking and photographing its condition in 2016. The new text will be available on the Anne Frank House website in Dutch soon, but it is unknown when they’ll add an English copy.

Like Any Teen, Anne Frank Hid Diary Entries About Sex