- Anne expresses why she wants to keep a diary: she’s lonely. She does have friends (and apparently lots of guys who are in love with her) but no one she can share her secrets with.
- "Kitty"—the name she christens her diary—will be just that friend.
- Anne explains a bit of her family and her life, so we get some good background.
- Anne has a father, mother, and older sister named Margot.
- They all lived in Frankfurt, Germany until Anne was four. The whole family eventually immigrated to Holland because they are Jews and things were getting very bad for Jews in Germany.
- Anne describes how family members still living in Germany have also fled.
- Anne says that life has been hard since 1940 when the Germans moved into Holland. There are lots of laws restricting the freedom of Jews: they have to wear a yellow star, can’t drive cars or bikes, can only go shopping during certain hours of the day, have a nighttime curfew, can’t go to movies, can’t use tennis courts, and so many more things.