5 Chapter 3 Another World War

Chapter 3 Another World War After Hitler invaded Poland in September of 1939, England and France declared war. This was the start of World War II. Italy sided with Germany. For the time being, the United States—an ocean away—stayed out of the conflict. As for the little country of the Netherlands, it remained neutral. That meant it did not take sides. The Dutch hoped that this would keep Hitler's army away.

At night over coffee and cake, the Franks and other Jewish families in Amsterdam talked about the war. Their dream was that Hitler would be defeated. Then they could all return to Germany. On the radio, they listened to the latest news. But they never discussed their fears about the future in front of the children.

The Franks went about their daily lives. They took family trips. One summer vacation was spent at a seaside town in Belgium. One spring they toured the canals of the Netherlands in a houseboat.

The first months of 1940 were bitterly cold. Anne did not mind. The canals remained frozen for much longer than usual. She and her friends spent many hours ice-skating. She was ten and a half now and longed for real figure skates. That

way she could do jumps and other tricks on the ice. All she had were Margot's old skates. They were just blades that attached to Anne's shoes with a key. Her parents had no time to think about ice skates. They were worried about an attack on the Netherlands. There were many warnings about the Germans invading. But time and again, the warnings proved to be false alarms. Late that spring the weather turned warm and sunny. And suddenly everyone's worst fear came true. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded. Hitler had only been waiting for warmer weather to send in his planes. The morning of the attack, bombs dropped from the sky. Amsterdam shook as if there had been an earthquake.

Two days later more bombs fell on Amsterdam. The airport was on fire. So was the harbor. But Amsterdam was lucky. Another city, Rotterdam, had been destroyed. Thousands of people died.