“The goal of the
Anne Frank House is to keep alive the memory of Anne Frank and the period when National Socialism was in power.
For the
Anne Frank House, the memory of Anne Frank is directly related to a concern of preserving freedom and maintaining human rights and a pluralistic and
democratic society,” says Mrs. Hans Westra, Director of the Anne Frank House on my visit to the Anne Frank House in the Netherlands.
Anne Frank was one of the millions of victims of the persecution of the Jews during World War II. For their own safety the Frank family hoped to escape by going into hiding.
The Anne Frank House comprises two sections: the front part of the house and also a back part referred to as the annex.
In the space leading to Otto Frank’s office building there were photos of Anne Frank on display. These were taken in May 1942.
In another display case were some items that testify to the escalating Jewish persecution in the Netherlands in those days.
The other display case contained personal
documents and objects that belonged to Mieo Gies, Bep Vaskuijl and Jo Kleiman.
Then we entered a room. Otto and Edith Frank slept in this room with their daughter Margot. On the wall (to the right) was a map of Normandy on which Otto tracked the progress of the invasion. Next to it were pencil marks that indicated how much Anne and Margot grew during the hiding period.
Next we entered the room Anne Frank shared with Fritz Pfeffer. She had pasted all kinds of images onto the wall of her room to make it more cheerful.
Then there was another display case with Anne Frank’s original red plaid diary, which she received on her thirteenth birthday. There were many more items including the
furniture and toilet they used, on display.
In the museum café, I found browsing copies of the Anne Frank House publications that are available for purchase in the museum
bookstore.
|
E-mail
