• Anne Frank House
The young Jewish girl Anne Frank died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15. After the war, the diary she kept in hiding in Amsterdam became known worldwide. In 1960, a museum was established in the house Anne Frank and her family hid in.
Image: Amsterdam, 2011, Front of the Anne Frank House, Anne Frank Huis, Juul Hondius
Amsterdam, 2011, Front of the Anne Frank House, Anne Frank Huis, Juul Hondius

Image: Amsterdam, 2010, Anne Frank's first diary, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, Anne Frank's first diary, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
In 1933, the Frank family fled from Frankfurt and settled in Amsterdam. When the German Wehrmacht invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the family was once again in danger. Anti-Jewish laws issued by the occupying forces increasingly excluded Jews in the Netherlands from public life. In 1942, the Jews in the Netherlands were to be drafted for labour deployment in the east. In order to escape deportation, Otto Frank set up a hiding place in his company's building. With the help of a few of his staff, eight people were able to hide there for two years. Anne Frank was 13 years old when she went into hiding on July 6, 1942, together with her father Otto, her mother Edith and her older sister Margot. The Frank family shared their hideout with Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist, and Hermann and Auguste van Pels with their son Peter.
Only a few trustworthy employees knew about the secret annex, regularly supplying its inhabitants with food. Daily life in the small annex was at times full of tension, and Anne frequently described the difficulties in her diary. On August 4, 1944, someone betrayed the hiding place to the Gestapo. Everyone at the secret hideout was arrested as well as two of their helpers. Otto Frank was the only one to survive the concentration camps; the two helpers were incarcerated in the Netherlands and too survived. Anne and Margot Frank were first deported to Auschwitz, later to Bergen-Belsen. They died during a typhus epidemic in March 1945.
Image: Amsterdam, 2011, Front of the Anne Frank House, Anne Frank Huis, Juul Hondius
Amsterdam, 2011, Front of the Anne Frank House, Anne Frank Huis, Juul Hondius

Image: Amsterdam, 2010, Anne Frank's first diary, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, Anne Frank's first diary, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Of the eight Jews who were in hiding in the secret annex at Otto Frank's company offices, seven perished in various concentration camps. Two of the five helpers were imprisoned, both of them survived. The father, Otto Frank, survived deportation and incarceration at Auschwitz. In all, over 100,000 Dutch Jews were murdered during the war.
Image: Amsterdam, 2010, Photos of Anne Frank in the exhibition, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, Photos of Anne Frank in the exhibition, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares

Image: Amsterdam, 2010, Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the hideout, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, Reconstruction of the bookcase that covered the entrance to the hideout, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Helper Miep Gies rescued Anne Frank's diary shortly after she was arrested at the hideout. After the war, she gave the diary to Otto Frank. It was published in 1947 and soon became famous worldwide. Otto Frank returned to the house and continued to work there. The rear house where the secret annex was remained empty. The house was very run down and in need of renovation, so Otto Frank reluctantly sold the house; at one point, there were considerations to demolish the house. When the public found out about this, many spoke out in favour of preserving the house. The owners finally donated it to the Anne Frank Foundation, a civic initiative formed in 1957. It was opened to the public on May 3, 1960. At the end of the 1990s, the house was extensively renovated.
The permanent exhibition stretches across the front and rear house. The annex has been largely reconstructed. Quotes from Anne Frank's diary illustrate her personal story in the exhibition, which is embedded in a historical context of Jewish persecution in general. Each year, nearly one million visitors come to the museum.
Image: Amsterdam, 2010, View of the exhibition, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, View of the exhibition, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares

Image: Amsterdam, 2010, Diary room, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Amsterdam, 2010, Diary room, Anne Frank Huis, Cris Toala Olivares
Name
Anne Frank Huis
Address
Prinsengracht 263
1016 GV Amsterdam
Phone
+31 (0)20 556 71 05
Fax
+31 (0)20 620 79 99
Web
http://www.annefrank.org
E-Mail
services@annefrank.nl
Open
Monday to Friday 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Possibilities
Documentation centre (Westermarkt 10), seminars, conferences and workshops on human rights, anti-Semitism, discrimination and Holocaust education, loan of temporary exhibitions, café and museum Shop.