When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of religious discrimination, graphic violence, illness and death, and physical abuse.

A brief passage introduces Part 5 in an unnamed limited third-person viewpoint. In it, a girl feels as if the yellow fabric star on her coat burns her. Strangers now notice only the star she wears, not the ones in the sky.

Edith, Margot, and Anne go to the Jewish street market for vegetables. Food is becoming scarce; there is no meat because the Germans now say kosher meat is against the law. Anne is suddenly deeply saddened by the bruised and rotten produce, the women fighting over it, the ragged awnings, and the rats. She says she has dust in her eye, but Edith knows Anne is upset. Edith takes Anne’s arm to walk home. They make potato and onion soup in the afternoon.

Anne spends more time writing. She writes stories and lists of everyday freedoms that are lost. The Nazis have taken so much away: They have stolen money and possessions; they won’t allow Jewish teachings; they will not allow participation in sports or use of public parks or pools; no Jewish people can run businesses or use public transportation.