The story of Anne Frank is one of bravery and fortitude. The photo does its trick - it shows an extremely handsome boy of 12 full of hope for the future it is not difficult to see his appeal to any vivacious and eager girl of similar age - but the background to its recent discovery provides something more, another layer in one of the most iconic stories of our time. But the picture you see opposite has ended this 60-year mystery and provided another glimpse into a devastated world. Until now, no portrait of Peter Schiff has come to light. On 6 January 1944 she wrote that her image of him was so vivid that she didn't need a photograph, but anyone who has read her diary may be curious to see what he looked like at the time she knew him. His name was Peter Schiff, he was almost three years her senior, and it is clear from her diary that he was seldom out of her thoughts throughout her two years in hiding in the secret annexe behind her father's office. At one point he gave her a pendant as a keepsake. Anne was 'crazy about his smile', which gave him a mischievous air. He had dark hair, brown eyes, a slightly pointed nose. He was 'tall, slim and good-looking, with a serious, quiet and intelligent face'. She had first set eyes upon him in school in 1940, and they had been 'inseparable' for a whole summer, walking hand in hand through their neighbourhood in Amsterdam, him in a white cotton suit, her in a short summer dress. On Friday 7 January 1944, Anne Frank confessed her love for a boy she had been smitten with for years.
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