I don't know if kids today in the US have "The Diary of Anne Frank" as required reading. 800 years ago when I was in school it was. I had trouble relating as a young teen, but it stuck with me.

I've been twice to the Anne Frank house. Everything you write here in this wonderful piece speaks to me as well. Not only the space but at least a bit of the understanding of being stuck and not visiting. My mother back in the US is losing her memory to a type of Alzheimer's. Due to travel restrictions and vaccination delays, I missed getting to spend a couple of weeks with her in person while she still had almost all of her short-term memory. That opportunity is now gone forever. Again, my "suffering" is minuscule compared to what the Franks went through, but it does help me relate.

I find your American sense of distance (even married to a Dutch guy) interesting. You describe the distance between Amsterdam and Delft as "short." I lived for 3 years in Delft 1/2 the week, taking the train between Schiphol and Delft twice a week. Yes, in American terms it is a "short" distance. :-)