Anne tries to fix an index card file that had fallen over, but she gives up when Margot and Peter refuse to help. She is excited that she is about to have her period, even though they do not have access to sanitary napkins. In a later note dated January 22, 1944, Anne is taken aback by her own “childish innocence” (56).

Anne notes that the men in the Secret Annex are celebrating British victories in Africa and the fact that Stalingrad has not yet fallen to German forces. She remarks that while she is getting along better with her mother, “Margot’s a stinker (no other word for it), a constant source of irritation, morning, noon, and night” (56).

The van Daans and the Franks celebrate Peter’s 16th birthday. They also celebrate the good news that the British landed in Algiers, Tunis, Casablanca, and Oran. Everyone is optimistic this will mark the end of the war. However, Anne is cautious in her optimism, remembering the words of Winston Churchill: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” (57).

Anne then discusses how the Secret Annex gets their food.