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Anne Frankhuis
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This deeply moving museum tells a tragic story. When in 1942 the Germans began to round up Jews in Amsterdam, the Frank and Van Pels families went into hiding. For 25 months, they hid in a secret annexe in Otto Frank’s business premises on Prinsengracht, now the Anne Frankhuis. In August 1944, they were betrayed and deported. Only Otto survived. The diary of his daughter, Anne, who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945 at the age of 15, has made her one of the most inspiring figures of the 20th century.
More on Jewish sights in Amsterdam
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1. The Warehouse
Otto Frank ran a business making pectin for jam, and spice and herb mixtures. The annexe in which the families hid was over his warehouse, so they had to keep quiet for fear that the warehouse workers would hear them.
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2. The Offices
Visitors continue upstairs to the offices of Otto Frank and the staff who helped to hide him and his family, along with Otto’s business partner, Hermann Van Pels, and his wife and son. In Anne’s diary, the Van Pels became the Van Daans.
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3. The Moveable Bookcase
To camouflage the entrance to the annexe, one of the helpers made a swinging bookcase. As Anne wrote, “no one could ever suspect that there could be so many rooms hidden behind…”
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4. The Secret Annexe
The claustrophobic rooms in which the eight lived have been left unfurnished, as they were when the Germans cleared their possessions after their arrest. On one wall, pencil marks record the growth of Anne and her sister Margot.
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5. Anne’s Room
After a while, Margot moved in with her parents, and Anne had to share her room with a new member of the group, a dentist called Fritz Pfeffer – in Anne’s estimation, “a very nice man”. Anne’s film-star pin-ups are still up on the wall.
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6. The Chestnut Tree
Some years ago, when this tree was dying, the authorities paid a small fortune to have it preserved because it was a favourite of Anne’s.
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7. The Front Attic
In a moving display, the fate of each member of the group unfolds. Anne and Margot died a month before Bergen-Belsen was liberated.
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8. The Diary Room
As well as the now famous red-checked diary, which she kept every day, Anne wrote short stories and ideas for novels. As time went on, she began to edit her original diary with a book calledThe Secret Annexe in mind.
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9. Multimedia
In the musuem’s multimedia space, visitors can go on a “virtual” journey through the Secret Annexe to find out more on the people in hiding and on World War II.
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10. The Exhibition Room
The Anne Frankhuis promotes racial tolerance through education. After the tour, visitors can participate in a video presentation on related issues.
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After reading this book as a young girl and then again as an adult and seeing her father on blue peter, my first thought on visiting Amsterdam was to visit Anne franks house/hiding place. even waiting outside to go in made me feel completely in awe of what these people went through and it was an extremely moving experience which i wanted to record and share with the thousands of other visitors that had written in the visitor books and while the comments made may not be as moving as anne franks herself to be remembered and written about and touching the hearts of millions today is a small step in the right direction of making sure that Anne Franks story is unique
about a year ago
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