FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1947 IN HOLLAND
BY CONTACT, AMSTERDAM, UNDER THE TITLE Het Achterhuis

Het Achterhuis, the Dutch title of this book, refers to that
part of the building which served as a hiding place for the
two families who took shelter there between 1942 and 1944.
Achter means "behind" or "in back of" and huis is Dutch
for "house." In Amsterdam's old buildings the apartments
overlooking a garden or court may be divided from those
overlooking the street, thus providing two separate suites
within the same apartment. Het Achterhuis or, literally, "the
house behind" is situated on the Prinsengracht, one of the
city's canals.

To simplify the English text, we have called that part of
the house the Secret Annexe, although it is not an annex
in the proper sense of the word.

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