Jacqueline Yvonne Meta van Maarsen is a Dutch author and former bookbinder. She is best known for her friendship with diarist Anne Frank. Jacque's Christian mother was able to remove the J signs from the family's identity cards during the Second World War, thereby helping the van Maarsens escape the Nazis.
Early life
Van Maarsen was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch-Jewish father, Hijman van Maarsen, and a French Christian mother, Elline van Maarsen. Van Maarsen has a sister, Christiane. Van Maarsen studied in a regular school in Amsterdam until 1940, when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Then she had to move to a Jewishlyceum. In the Jewish school, she befriended many girls, including Anne Frank, Nanette Blitz, Sanne Ledermann and Hanneli Goslar. Van Maarsen was the secretary of the ping-pong club started by her friends, Little Dipper Minus Two. Anne Frank and Van Maarsen became best friends, and they often visited each other's houses and did their homework together. Van Maarsen sincerely liked Anne, but found her at times too demanding in her friendship. In July 1942, Anne's family went into hiding, but Van Maarsen did not know about this. Anne, in her diary later, was remorseful for her own attitude toward Van Maarsen, regarding with better understanding Van Maarsen's desire to have other close girlfriends as well - "I just want to apologize and explain things", Anne wrote. After two and a half months in hiding, Anne composed a farewell letter to Van Maarsen in her diary, vowing her lifelong friendship. Van Maarsen read this passage much later, after the publication of the diary. Meanwhile, the Nazis were arresting Jews throughout the country. Van Maarsen, who was half-Jewish by Nazi standards, felt the threat of arrest. Because she was Christian, Van Maarsen's mother was able to remove the "J" signs from the family's ID cards. This act helped the Van Maarsens to escape from the Nazis, and it allowed Van Maarsen to transfer out of the Jewish school and back into general education.
After the war, Van Maarsen came to know Anne had not survived. Otto Frank, Anne's father, got in touch with Van Maarsen, and she was one of the first people to whom Otto Frank showed Anne's diary. In 1947, The Diary of a Young Girl was published. Van Maarsen became an award-winning bookbinder. She married her childhood friend, Ruud Sanders, in 1954. They had three children. She has written five books on her notable friendship with Anne Frank,
Present life
Van Maarsen still lives in Amsterdam and has seven grandchildren. Since 1987, she has been giving speeches about Anne Frank in different schools in Germany and the United States. Additionally, she appeared in the November 28, 2008, documentary . Van Maarsen has also written five books about her and Anne's notable strong and close friendship. At present, Jacque is writing a book of short stories, inspired by her travels.
