PAPER SKY -
by Beth Jacobs
There is something so very intimate about reading someone’s diary, yet millions of us have in fact read Anne Frank’s diary. Now Beth Jacobs, in her newly released book Paper Sky, reaches even deeper into that intimacy of Anne’s heart by following her after the August 4, 1944 arrest of the small group living in that secret Amsterdam annex.
Jacobs’ exhaustive research is apparent with every entry in this continuing diary as she follows Anne and her family for nearly 8 months, until Anne’s death at the German Bergen-Belsen camps.
On July 15, 1944, Anne wrote, “I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty, too, shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.”
However, that peace and tranquility was not the case for Anne and her family. In Paper Sky, Jacobs reveals her acute awareness of Anne’s every -often times- conflicting human emotions, of every holocaust scene, that somehow we don’t want to see. We feel our own senses ignited by the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the camps. The lice quickly multiple, leaving us scratching and checking to make sure there is nothing on our own arms or legs.
We experience with Anne a sense of freedom following their arrest that quickly turns to her longing for that small attic. We are led to understand the constant game of ‘musical chairs’ expertly played to stay out of harm’s way, off the trains and to remain upright during roll calls. We also understand Anne’s gentle awareness of the sudden smallness of her loving father Pim, as he struggles to protect his family.
I find one of the most interesting parts of Paper Sky is Anne’s relationship to her beloved Kitty. A relationship that changes over the months from Kitty being the one she shares her innermost thoughts with, to a Kitty that comforts and protects her, to Anne’s need to protect and comfort Kitty. Kitty becomes the source of Anne’s sanity. Ultimately, without even the tiniest scrape of paper to write on, Anne and Kitty become one, watching the world slip away.
You will walk away from reading this book, both longing to taste freedom and the final ending of this story, and the longing to keep that diary, scattered on the annex floor so long ago, safely locked away following Anne’s last entry.
- Rev. Tricia L. Teater, MPA, Director and Head Priest,
Udumbara Zen Center, Evanston, Il.
by Beth Jacobs
There is something so very intimate about reading someone’s diary, yet millions of us have in fact read Anne Frank’s diary. Now Beth Jacobs, in her newly released book Paper Sky, reaches even deeper into that intimacy of Anne’s heart by following her after the August 4, 1944 arrest of the small group living in that secret Amsterdam annex.
Jacobs’ exhaustive research is apparent with every entry in this continuing diary as she follows Anne and her family for nearly 8 months, until Anne’s death at the German Bergen-Belsen camps.
On July 15, 1944, Anne wrote, “I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty, too, shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.”
However, that peace and tranquility was not the case for Anne and her family. In Paper Sky, Jacobs reveals her acute awareness of Anne’s every -often times- conflicting human emotions, of every holocaust scene, that somehow we don’t want to see. We feel our own senses ignited by the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of the camps. The lice quickly multiple, leaving us scratching and checking to make sure there is nothing on our own arms or legs.
We experience with Anne a sense of freedom following their arrest that quickly turns to her longing for that small attic. We are led to understand the constant game of ‘musical chairs’ expertly played to stay out of harm’s way, off the trains and to remain upright during roll calls. We also understand Anne’s gentle awareness of the sudden smallness of her loving father Pim, as he struggles to protect his family.
I find one of the most interesting parts of Paper Sky is Anne’s relationship to her beloved Kitty. A relationship that changes over the months from Kitty being the one she shares her innermost thoughts with, to a Kitty that comforts and protects her, to Anne’s need to protect and comfort Kitty. Kitty becomes the source of Anne’s sanity. Ultimately, without even the tiniest scrape of paper to write on, Anne and Kitty become one, watching the world slip away.
You will walk away from reading this book, both longing to taste freedom and the final ending of this story, and the longing to keep that diary, scattered on the annex floor so long ago, safely locked away following Anne’s last entry.
- Rev. Tricia L. Teater, MPA, Director and Head Priest,
Udumbara Zen Center, Evanston, Il.
