Anne's fourteenth birthday is celebrated with little gifts from the members of her "family in hiding," as she calls them, and she also receives a poem from her father. This was a German tradition, and as Anne's family had originally come from Germany, moving to Holland only after the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany, Anne's father wrote the poem in German. Margot, Anne's sister, translated it "brilliantly" into Dutch, and the English translator has also done a good job.
The Nazis have begun to move quickly; new regulations have been imposed. All civilians are ordered to hand in their radio sets (listening to stations other than those of the Nazis had been forbidden since the beginning of the war, but the Dutch people, nevertheless, listened to the BBC secretly, drawing encouragement from it), and the little group in the "Secret Annexe" is reluctantly obliged to forfeit the large set which was in the office downstairs. One of their "protectors," however, promises to provide them with another, substitute radio, and Anne concludes this entry by saying, "It is really true that as the news from the outside gets worse, so the radio with its miraculous voice helps us to keep up our morale and to say again, 'Chins up, stick it out, better times will come!'" (June 15, 1943).
Almost a month passes without an entry in Anne's diary, and then we read that Anne has decided to control her public remarks about the people whom she must be confined with, even if this involves shamming (or fraudulent behavior) ". . . so that the rain of rebukes dies down to a light summer drizzle" (July 11, 1943). Thus, the routine life of the group goes on, and Anne and Margot are even allowed to help a little with the work of the office downstairs, making them feel quite important. Anne mentions again how very important books are to her, as she is shut up in the "Secret Annexe" and has no other amusements.
