The eNotes Blog Positive Development in Negative Spaces Anne Frank and PeterSchiff

Positive Development in Negative Spaces Anne Frank and PeterSchiff Despite her own fears as well as the horrors going on outside the crowded annexe where Anne Frank and her family were hiding from the Nazis, Anne, like many girls her age, was mooning over a boy.   His name was Peter Schiff and Anne recalls a poignant dream about him in one of her candid entries.   She writes: This morning I woke up just before seven and immediately remembered what Id been dreaming about. I was sitting on a chair and across from me was Peter Peter Schiff the dream was so vivid Peters eyes suddenly met mine and I stared for a long time into those velvety brown eyes. Then he said very softly: If only Id known Id have come to you long ago. I turned away abruptly, overcome by emotion. And then I felt a soft, oh-so-cool and gentle cheek against mine, and it felt so good, so good. On another date, Anne describes Peter so well we can almost see him: Peter was the ideal boy: tall, slim and good-looking, with a serious, quiet and intelligent face. He had dark hair, beautiful brown eyes, ruddy cheeks and a nicely pointed nose. I was crazy about his smile, which made him look so boyish and mischievous.† Anne would never know what became of her childhood sweetheart, but history tells the sad story.   Peter was imprisoned in two concentration camps, arriving first in   Bergen-Belsen, before he was transferred to Auschwitz, where it is known that he perished although the exact date is unclear. Like Anne, we, her readers, could only envision Peter in our heads.   This remained so for nearly sixty years, but in 2009, one of her classmates donated a picture of Peter to the Anne Frank House.   Here he is: It would have been lovely to know if this young love would have come to anything, if, as Anne hoped, they were able to consummate their desire.   Calling Peter by his pet name, Petel, Anne opines: Once, when Father and I were talking about sex, he said I was too young to understand that kind of desire. But I thought I did understand it, and now Im sure I do. Nothing is as dear to me now as my darling Petel!