All of Anne Frank's diaries and notes are returning to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and will be on permanent display there. "Anne is coming home," Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk said.
The transfer was agreed by Dutch Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk, the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation and the Anne Frank Foundation. All remaining parts of Anne Frank's famous diary are therefore returning to the place they were written.
Anne's 80th birthday
Anne Frank would have been 80 on 12 June 2009, but for the fact that she was taken to a Nazi concentration camp in 1944 and died there in 1945. A pro-German Dutch traitor had told the occupying forces about the Frank family's hideout in the Secret Annexe, Het Achterhuis, the current Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.
Every day, hundreds of people are queueing for a visit to the Anne Frank House. They are taken past the rooms where Anne and her family were in hiding from the Nazis. A stairwell takes visitors to a modern, dimly lit exhibition room where Anne's famous WWII diary in its red chequered cover has been on display since 1980. Everybody casts a glance onto its pages, even though few visitors can read Dutch. Some become very emotional at the sight of Anne's original handwriting.
Nazi horrors
The remaining two diaries, the story book and other notes will now also be moved to the museum on Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht canal. The new exhibition is set to open on 1 November.
Minister Ronald Plasterk applauded the move and underlined the importance of the diaries:
"The horrors of WWII are hard to take in: six million people that were killed because they were Jews or because they were discriminated in other ways. Such a number is unfathomable. But somehow, Anne Frank's story which contains not a single horror, manages to bring the story of WWII across to the world.
Anne Frank is world famous, and it is fantastic that the Dutch public as well as the rest of the world will now be able to see her entire work in its original form in the house where it was written. Anne is coming home. I hope and expect that this will inspire even greater interest in her history – our history."
Impact
Marjan Schwegman of the Institute for War Documentation is also pleased the writings will now be more widely accessible.
"Tomorrow (12 June 2009) Anne Frank would have turned 80, but she will always remain a girl. Thanks to the preservation of her diaries we know what it was like for a Jewish girl to be in hiding. Her experience is unique and illustrative and thus appeals to millions of people all over the world. Through this new agreement her life story will gain depth and will therefore make an even bigger impact than before."
Listen to a report from the Anne Frank House:
Wish
Anne Frank Foundation head Hans Westra added that the transfer helps to fulfil Anne's father's ambitions for his daughter's writings.
"It’s fantastic that after all these years the diaries are finally returning ‘home'. It was Otto Frank's wish to spread Anne Frank's ideas around the world. By displaying the writings in the Anne Frank House we can explain to the public how Anne Frank put together her diary and how she developed as a writer."
Anne Frank became aware that her diaries might one time be read by other people when the exiled Dutch government asked Dutch citizens in a radio broadcast to keep their diaries in order to help post-war historians. "Like many people, she kept a diary. But she later rewrote them with a view to publication," Hans Westra says.
From 22:00 (20:00 UTC) this evening, there will be a film clip here made by the Dutch public service broadcaster (NOS) which brings Anne Frank to life using animations of the many photos of her which have been discovered.
Anne Frank House website (external link)
Additional reporting by Loretta van der Horst
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I think they should also include wax figures of her in the museum. A series that chronicals her life from infancy to the age of 15. It would be nice.
I heard abut her persecutions. It' sad to know that these awful things really happened. I am glad that she can return safely home, where she belong. It won't be so difficult for her to find an apartment and to restart writing. I can not wait to read her new book.
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