I must have read and re-read “The Diary of Anne Frank” four or five times in this lifetime. There was always something about this brave, young girl’s life that held me captive. I first read her story when I was 10, just about the same age she was when her family began to live in the annexae that was to be their home for two years. I obviusly knew the way it would end, but still, Anne’s prose and the poignancy of her story never failed to make me weep.

So when I saw this Reuters report on how finally, they had found a face to match the name - Peter Schiff, Anne’s “one true love” my heart skipped a beat. And when I saw his picture, I could not help but smile. No wonder she was enamored by him. In her own words — “Peter was the ideal boy: tall, slim and good-looking, with a serious, quiet and intelligent face,” she wrote in her diary. Comparing her description to the photo, I had to marvel at her gift for words once more.

The photo was given to the Anne Frank Museum by Peter’s childhood friend, Ernst Michaelis who realized after rereading Anne’s diary recently there were no known pictures of Schiff. But in spite the separation by war, Anne had managed to keep a clear mental picture of her young love. “I don’t need a photograph, I can see him oh so well,” she said after dreaming of him, a year and half after she had last seen him. The recollections of a young love always manages to take your breath away