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Introduction
World War I (1914-1918) ended for Germany in total defeat. The German people
were dissatisfied: the peace treaty was a great humiliation, there was no
money, no work and no hope of a better future. In the chaotic twenties an
unknown young man from Austria had managed to work his way up to the position
of "Fuhrer" of an insignificant party in Munich. His name was Adolf
Hitler; the party called itself the NSDAP and its followers were called 'Nazis.'
After an unsuccessful coup d'etat, Hitler was put
in a comfortable prison, where he wrote down his plans
and ideas in a book called "Mein Kampf" ('my
struggle'). He said that the German people were 'Aryans'
and that the 'Aryan race' was the strongest and the
best. All other races were inferior. The most inferior
'race' in his eyes was the Jewish people. He blamed
them for everything that was wrong and for all Germany's
defeats. Hitler's ideas appealed to many in Germany.
The NSDAP soon became a party to be reckoned with.
In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor and quickly,
within a year, he consolidated all power within his
grasp. The concentration camps filled up steadily from
then on - first with political opponents, particularly
communists and trade union leaders, but soon with Jews,
Gypsies, homosexuals, in brief, everyone who disagreed
with him or whom he regarded as inferior.
All of life in Germany from 1933 on was oriented towards
preparation for war. Few, however, realized this. In
September of 1939, World War II began with the invasion
of Poland. Between then and 1945, this war was to cost
nearly 55 million people their lives, among them six
million Jews, most of whom were killed in the concentration
camps.
In May, 1940, the Netherlands were occupied and, in
spite of no end of promises, the German system was
introduced here as well. The economy was entirely oriented
towards Germany and many Dutch men had to go and work
like slaves in German factories.
In February, 1941, the persecution of the Netherlands'
140,000 Jews began, 25,000 of whom were Jewish refugees
from Germany, like the Frank family. No more than a
few of them managed to go into hiding and thus escape
the concentration camps and gas chambers.
The occupation of Holland meant five years of repression,
slave labor, terror, hunger, and fear. Unhappily it
also meant collaboration, but fortunately there was
resistance as well. In any case it meant loss of an
enormous number of innocent people. Anne Frank was
one of them.
The Annex
The Anne Frank house is a house like many others in the old part of Amsterdam.
It was built in 1635 as a merchant's house but has undergone many changes
since then. The price of the houses was determined by their width, so people
built lengthwise. The result was the long, narrow houses typical of Amsterdam.
There had to be enough daylight, however, so the house could not be too long.
For this reason there were almost always two houses built one behind the
other: one in front, a courtyard in between, and an annex. The Annex that
served as the Frank familiy's hiding placed attained its present form in
1740.
In 1940, Otto Frank established his wholesale business
in herbs and spices in this house on the Prinsengracht.
By the second year of the German occupation it was
clear that Jews would inevitably be deported unless
they found a place to hide. Otto Frank managed to do
so, thanks to the help of his former employees.
In the first months of 1942, a hiding place was created
in the empty Annex for his family and that of Mr. van
Daan, who had connections with Mr. Frank's business.
The building that has become known as 'Anne Frank's
Annex' consists of the two upper floors and the attic
of the Annex. The entrance to the hiding place was
hidden behind a hinged bookcase. Since the supply of
herbs for the house in front had to be stored in the
dark, the windows at the back were blackened out and
painted over. In this way the Annex was hidden from
view.
The windows at the back of the Annex were hung with
thick lace curtains and were blacked out in the evenings,
as were all windows in Amsterdam, by black slats. The
Germans had ordered the black-out in order to make
it more difficult for the Allied planes to find their
way at night. Of course this also lessened the risk
of the hideaways being discovered. Anne Frank has described
in inimitable fashion in her diary what life in the
Annex was like for 25 long months.
After the discovery and deportation of its occupants,
the Annex stood empty for a long time, but when in
1957 there was talk of demolishing it, a number of
prominent citizens of Amsterdam established the Anne
Frank Foundation in order to preserve the house. That
year, with overwhelming support of the people of Amsterdam
and many others, the house on the Prinsengracht became
the 'Anne Frank House.'
Anne
Frank and Her Diary
An Exhibit of the Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
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1929:
Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt
am Main, Germany. She was the second daughter of Otto
and Edith Frank. Her sister Margot was three years
older than she.
1933: Adolf Hitler succeeded in
becoming Chancellor of Germany. Soon after that the
boycott of Jewish business began. In April, the Jewish
civil servants were fired. Otto Frank decided not
to wait and see what would happen next, and left with
his family for Amsterdam. -
School Years: The Frank
family moved into a house on Merwede Square in Amsterdam.
Anne went to the Montessori school in the same neighborhood.
Between 1933 and 1939 hundreds of thousands of Jewish
Germans sought refuge in other countries.
-
1935:
The Nuremberg Laws, depriving Jews of citizenship,
are passed. Jews are forbidden to marry non-Jews.
They are forbidden to practice law or medicine. They
are excluded from journalism, teaching, and farming.
-
1938:
Passports of Jews are marked with the letter
'J'. Anti-Semitic riots known as Kristallnacht (Crystal
Night) break out in Germany and Austria. Hundreds
of synagogues are destroyed and thousands of shops
are looted. Jewish children are expelled from German
schools. All Jewish-owned businesses are taken over
by the Nazis.
-
1939: September 1, Hitler attacks
Poland which begins World War II. Jews are uprooted
from their homes in German occupied territory
and are forced to move to Poland. Ghettos are established
in such cities as Krakow, Lodz, Lublin, and Warsaw.
-
1940: In May, I 940, the German armies invaded
Holland; five days later it surrendered and the occupation
began. Many Dutch Jews hoped that the situation
would not become as bad as it was in Germany. Mr.
Frank was not so optimistic. The events of this period
were noted by Anne in her diary, which she had received
for her thirteenth birthday.
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1941: Jews from
Germany are deported eastward.
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1942: A top
level Nazi meeting, the Wannsee Conference, is
held on "The Final Solution of the Jewish Question." "The
Final Solution" is defined as the extermination
of all Jews in Europe.
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Preparing To Go Into
Hiding: Mr. Frank had already begun converting
the Annex of his firm at Prinsengracht 263 into a
hiding place. In the first months of 1942, household
effects were brought in bit by bit. The two upper
floors and the attic of the Annex would be concealed
by the hinged hidden bookcase.
-
Going into Hiding:
At the beginning of July, 1942, Margot received
a summons ordering her to register for mandatory
work. On July 6, 1942, the Frank family moved into
the Annex, to be followed by the van Daan family
and Mr. Dussel.
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Daily Life In the Annex: The
hideaways tried to lead as normal a life as possible.
For Anne, Margot, and Peter van Daan this meant
studying and doing homework; they were not allowed
to get behind with their schoolwork. The hideaways
had to take care that no one heard them; not all
the people in the office knew that they were there.
-
Help:
Mr. Koophuis and Mr. Kraler, two of Mr. Franks's
former employees, were of inestimable value to
the hideaways, as were the typists, Miep and Elly.
They provided food bought on the black market or
with food stamps obtained by the underground.
-
Deportation: On August 1, 1944, Anne wrote her
last entry in her diary. On August 4, 1944, a truck
with German police and their Dutch cohorts appeared
at the door. They walked straight to the bookcase
and shouted, "Open up" and seized the terrified
hideaways. A German policeman ordered everyone to
hand over jewelry and valuables. He took Mr. Frank's
attache case, which contained Anne's notebooks, shook
the contents out onto the floor, and put in what
he wanted to take with him. Anne's papers were left
behind. The hideaways were carried off, first to
the police station, then to Westerbork. The last
transport of Jews from Westerbork took them to Auschwitz.
-
The
End: Mrs. Frank died of starvation in Auschwitz.
Mr. van Daan was gassed. Peter was carried off
with the SS when the approach of the Russians forced
the Germans to evacuate Auschwitz and was reported
missing. Mr. Dussel died in Neuengamme. In late October,
Margot and Anne were deported to Germany to the concentration
camp Bergen-Belsen. This camp was packed with prisoners
from other evacuated camps. Anne and Margot both
came down with typhus. They died within a short time
of each other in March, 1945. Mrs. van Daan also
died in Bergen-Belsen. Mr. Frank was liberated from
Auschwitz by Russian troops.
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Publication or
the Diary: Upon his return to Amsterdam, Otto
Frank realized that he was the only survivor. Then
Miep, one of the helpers, gave him Anne's papers.
After the hideaways had been taken away, the helpers
had gone to the Annex and taken as much as they could
with them. Shortly afterwards the Annex was ransacked.
Miep had kept Anne's papers all the time. Acting
on friends' advice, Otto Frank decided to publish
Anne's diary. It appeared in 1947, entitled 'The
Annex' a title Anne herself had chosen.
The Anne Frank Foundation
The house where Anne and the others lived in hiding is now a museum. It is
run by the Anne Frank Foundation, which was set up in 1957. Its primary goal
is the preservation of the Annex, which has become world-renowned through
the diary. There are many things in the Annex that serve as reminders of
the past. But the foundation does not want to look only at the past. It wants
to continue Anne's struggle for a better world. Discrimination towards people
with a different color skin still exists. Large groups of people are still
regarded as inferior on the basis of their 'race.' Anti-Semitism continues
to turn up everywhere. Fascist ideas are still far from dead. The so-called
democratic countries also violate human rights. Neo-Nazi movements are still
trying to make a grab for power. The Anne Frank Foundation does not see its
field of action getting any smaller.
In addition to opening up the Annex and providing
visitors with information on the developments and events
of World War II, the Anne Frank Foundation also organizes
regular exhibitions on contemporary subjects. Past
themes were 'immigrant workers' and "Two Thousand
years of Anti-Semitism." There were also exhibitions
on various neo-Nazi groups in western Europe who think
that Hitler's Germany was not so bad after all. They
deny the mass murder of the Jews and even declare that
the Jews thought it up themselves. Since the diary
is an example of what the war meant they say that Anne
did not write it but that it is a fake. In addition
to the museum, the Foundation also has an education
department. Special attention is devoted to pupils
of the lower vocational schools. In cooperation with
the teachers, study programs are set up to make students
aware of what is going on in society and how to adopt
a discerning attitude. Experiences with these programs
are passed on to the educational system by means of
publications.
The Foundation organizes courses for social workers,
students, etc., from abroad. In a week-seminar social
problems are studied; for example, minority problems
and structures which stimulate or perpetuate discrimination.
Another facet of the the educational work takes place
in the museum. Groups visiting the Annex can be guided
by Foundation Staff Members, who provide an audio-visual
introduction. The main goal is always to provide information
on Anne Frank and the times in which she lived, and
to stimulate a discussion of the problems of those
times in relation to our own. The Foundation also maintains
archives covering a great number of subjects related
to its goal. School materials on World War II are being
developed and neo-Nazi groups are being investigated.
Anne Frank Foundation
Prinsengracht 263
1016 GV
Amsterdam
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