"I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support."
-Anne Frank's first diary entry, June 12, 1942

Anne Frank begins her diary with the hope that she will be able to reveal everything to it, since she feels that she has never truly been able to confide in anyone. She tells the story of how she acquired the diary on Friday, June 12, her thirteenth birthday. Anne wakes up at six in the morning and waits until seven to open her presents. One of the presents is the new diary. Afterward, Anne?s friend Hanneli picks her up for school. Anne goes to gym with the other students, although she is not able to participate because her shoulders and hips dislocate too easily. She returns home at five in the afternoon. She describes several of her friends?Hanneli, Sanne, and Jacqueline?whom she has met at the Jewish Lyceum, the local school for Jewish children. SPARKNOTES

The word 'Book' was written in Otto Frank's calendar on 25 June 1947. That day, the first edition of 1500 copies of 'Het Achterhuis' (The Secret Annex) was published. On 25 June 2007 it will be exactly 60 years since that original publication. The Anne Frank House and the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation are taking this opportunity to organize a symposium in which the importance of the diary is discussed from various viewpoints. Anne Frank House