ANNE FRANK HOUSE

Description

Essentials about the Anne Frank House in brief

The Anne Frank House is probably Amsterdam’s most famous house and one of the city’s central tourist attractions. Located at Prinsengracht 263-267, it is now a museum dedicated to Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank. Over a million people visit the museum every year, which is so impressive because of its personal history.

The history of the Anne Frank House

The house at Prinsengracht 263 was built in 1635, as was the neighboring building at number 265, which was later purchased by the museum. In 1740, during a renovation, the rear extension was demolished and replaced by the current, larger extension. In 1940, the Opekta and Pectacon companies, under the management of Anne Frank’s father Otto, moved into the house at Prinsengracht 263.

The first floor consisted of three parts. In the front was the warehouse and the suppliers’ entrance, behind it the spice mills and in the back the warehouse where the goods were packed for the trade. On the second floor were the offices of Otto Frank and his employees. The back building is the rear extension of the building. Since it is protected on all four sides from view from the street by other houses, it was a well-suited hiding place during the period of German occupation and persecution of Jews.

Over a period of two years and one month, eight people lived here in about 50 square meters of darkened rooms. In addition to Anne Frank, her sister Margot and her parents Edith and Otto, these were Auguste and Hermann van Pels with their son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer. Anne Frank described this time in her world-famous diary. Only in the evenings and on weekends, when the employees of the companies had left the building, the hidden people could come into the front building.

In 1944, the hiding place was betrayed (by whom is not clear until today) and on August 4, the inhabitants were arrested by the German Gestapo and deported to concentration and extermination camps. Anne Frank and her sister Margot died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945 shortly before liberation. Her mother, the Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer also died in concentration camps. The only survivor of the Holocaust was Anne’s father Otto.

After the arrest of the residents, Gestapo officials cleared the hiding place, confiscated clothing, furniture as well as personal belongings. These were distributed to bombed-out families in Germany. However, Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl, two of Otto Frank’s employees who provided the Jewish families in their hiding place with all the necessities of life, were able to save Anne’s diary, among other things, before the eviction.

The museum in the Anne Frank House

Shortly after the publication of Anne Frank’s diary, the first visitors arrived, who were guided through the hiding place by the employees as part of private tours. In 1954, the entire block was sold to a real estate agent who wanted to demolish the houses in order to build a factory on the site. In 1955, a Dutch newspaper therefore launched a campaign to preserve the house as a monument. On the day of the planned demolition, representatives of the campaign protested in front of the house and obtained an enforcement order. In 1957, the owner at the time finally signed the house over to the newly established Anne Frank Foundation as a sign of goodwill. With donations, the Foundation subsequently purchased the neighboring building at No. 265, thus preserving the hiding place in its original condition.

In 1960, a museum about Nazi persecution and oppression was established in the front buildings, which has been renovated and enlarged several times. Prinsengracht 263 is the old Opekta company building, to the right of which is house 265, Keg’s Koffiehandel, known from the diary and now also part of the museum. The other houses up to the corner were demolished during the 1950s and replaced by new buildings. House number 267 is where the museum entrance is today. One goes inside through house 265 into the old building 263.

The rooms in the back of the house, which served as a hiding place, remained unfurnished at Otto Frank’s request. Some personal belongings are still on display: Anne Frank’s collection of photos of famous movie stars, the wallpaper on which Otto Frank marked the growth of his daughters, and a map on which he recorded the Allied advance in World War II. From the small room where Peter van Pels lived at the time, corridors lead to the neighboring houses also acquired by the Foundation. There, in addition to the diaries, various exhibitions are presented that document different aspects of the Holocaust and current cases of racist intolerance.