Queen Wilhelmina in England, 1942.On Sunday evening, April 9, 1944, the office at the Prinsengracht was again broken into. This time it was a lot more terrifying than previous times, with the sound of footsteps in the house, in the private office, in the kitchen and on the stairs toward the Secret Annex. The hiders could even hear someone fumbling with the swiveling bookcase that hid the entrance to their hiding place.

All went well in the end, the hiders were not discovered, but they suffered mortal fear. Once everyone had calmed down again, Anne realized that she wanted nothing more than to become Dutch after the war. In her diary entry of Tuesday, April 11, 1944 she wrote:

"That night I really thought I was going to die. I waited for the police and I was ready for death, like a soldier on a battlefield. I'd gladly have given my life for my country. But now, now that I've been spared, my first wish after the war is to become a Dutch citizen. I love the Dutch, I love this country, I love the language, and I want to work here. And even if I have to write to the Queen herself, I won't give up until I've reached my goal!"

Quoted from: Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl. The Definitive Edition Viking, an imprint of Penguin books Ltd. London in association with The Folio Society 2006.