Jacqueline van Maarsen

)Jacqueline Yvonne Meta van Maarsen (Born January 30, 1929), simply known as "Jacque van Maarsen" is a Dutch bookbinder and writer. She is best known for her friendship with diarist Anne Frank. Jacque's Christian mother was able to remove the J (Jew) signs from the family's identity cards (Jacque's father was Jewish) during the Second World War, an act which helped the van Maarsens to escape the Nazis.

Jacque was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch Jewish father, Hijman van Maarsen, and a French, Christian mother, Elline van Maarsen. Jacque has a sister, Christiane. [1] Jacque studied in a normal school of Amsterdam until 1940- when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Then Jacque had to move to a Jewish school. In the Jewish school, Jacqueline befriended many girls, including Anne Frank and Hanneli Goslar. Anne and Jacque became best friends, and they often visited each others' houses and did their homeworks together. Jacque was the secretary of the pingpong club Little Bear Minus Two (the club was opened by her friends).

In July 1942, Anne's family went into hiding, although Jacque didn't know about this.

Meanwhile, the Nazis were arresting Jews of the whole country. Jacque, who was half-Jewish felt threat of arrest. Jacque's French mother, who was a Christian, was successfully able to remove the "J" (Jew) signs from the family's ID cards. These acts helped the van Maarsens to have a escape from the Nazis. Jacque was shifted to a normal school from the Jewish school.

After the war, Jacque came to know Anne didn't survive the war. Otto Frank, Anne's father, got in touch with Jacque. Jacque was one of the first people whom Otto Frank showed Anne's diary. In 1947 The Diary of a Young Girl was published.

Jacque became a bookbinder. She married her childhood friend, Ruud Sanders, in 1954. [2] They had three children, Marteen, Joost and Lili.

Since 1987, Jacque has been giving speeches about Anne Frank in different schools of Germany and United States.

Jacque has written four books about her friendship with Anne Frank. Jacque still lives in Amsterdam, and has seven grandchildren.