Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House
Name	Anne Frank House
Native name	Het Achterhuis
Established	1960
Location	Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Type	Biographical museum
Visitors	~1.3 million (pre-2020)
Website	Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House is a biographical museum and historic site in Amsterdam associated with Anne Frank, the Jewish diarist who hid during the World War II Holocaust. Located on the Prinsengracht canal, the house preserves the Secret Annex where members of the Frank and Van Pels families, along with Fritz Pfeffer, lived in hiding and where Anne wrote her diary, later published as The Diary of a Young Girl. The site functions as a museum, research center, and educational institution, drawing international visitors and scholars interested in Nazi Germany era persecution, Dutch resistance, and Holocaust remembrance.

History

The building housing the museum dates to the 17th century and sits in the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam. The commercial front building long served as a warehouse and office for the Opekta company and the Pectacon firm, both linked to Otto Frank, Anne’s father, who arranged the hiding place. In July 1944 the residents of the annex were discovered and deported by the Gestapo; most were murdered in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. After World War II, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam and worked with Dutch friends such as Miep Gies and Victor Kugler to preserve the diaries and the hiding place. The house opened to the public in 1960 following fundraising efforts by organizations including the Anne Frank Foundation and donors from the Netherlands. In subsequent decades the site became an international symbol of Holocaust memory, receiving visits by dignitaries from the United Nations, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander, and heads of state from Germany, United States, and other nations. The museum has been involved in legal and ethical controversies concerning ownership of the diary manuscript and the management by entities such as the Anne Frank Fonds and the Anne Frank Stichting.

Architecture and Layout

The complex comprises a canal-front house and a rear warehouse with a concealed annex entered via a movable bookcase, situated behind the Opekta office. The original 17th-century canal house features Dutch Golden Age gables, timber framing, and stacked floors typical of Amsterdam merchant houses on the Prinsengracht. The rear warehouse was modified in the early 20th century for commercial use by companies linked to Otto Frank and featured industrial loft spaces, storage rooms, and narrow staircases. The Secret Annex included small rooms such as a front room, a back room, a salon, and an attic space under the roof trusses; the layout reflects adaptive reuse practices seen in European urban warehouses converted for mixed residential and commercial purposes. Conservation efforts maintain original construction elements like exposed beams, floorboards, and plaster, drawing on methods from institutions such as the International Council on Monuments and Sites and restoration precedents at sites like Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Anne Frank House conservation partners.

Museum and Exhibits

The museum presents a chronological exhibition documenting the biography of Anne Frank, the chronology of Jewish persecution under Nazi Germany, and the wartime history of the Netherlands. Exhibits include facsimiles of pages from The Diary of a Young Girl, photographs of Frank family members, archival documents from figures such as Miep Gies, and contextual displays on institutions like the Dutch Jewish Council and deportation trains to Westerbork. Temporary exhibitions have featured loans from museums including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Yad Vashem archive, the Imperial War Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The museum uses multimedia materials, testimonies from survivors like Hannah Goslar and Jacques van Maarsen, and educational panels referencing events such as the Kristallnacht and the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The site also houses a study center and archival repository that collaborates with university departments at institutions such as the University of Amsterdam and the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

Anne Frank and the Secret Annex

Anne Frank, born in Frankfurt am Main, moved with her family to Amsterdam in 1934 to escape escalating antisemitism in Germany. When the Nazi occupation intensified and anti-Jewish measures multiplied, the Frank family, the Van Pels family (referred to pseudonymously as the Van Daan family in Anne’s diary), and dentist Fritz Pfeffer went into hiding in July 1942. The Secret Annex was accessed through a concealed entrance and remained hidden for over two years, during which Anne wrote extensively, producing entries that combined personal reflections with political observations on Hitler, wartime events, and Jewish fate. Her diary became a seminal primary source for historians studying daily life under occupation, the mentality of European Jews, and youth perspectives on persecution. The annex’s inhabitants were betrayed in August 1944; deportees passed through transit camp Westerbork en route to Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Anne Frank’s posthumous literary impact has been amplified by translations, adaptations including stage plays and films that brought attention to the annex and to postwar restitution efforts led by people such as Miep Gies.

Conservation and Research

Conservation initiatives focus on stabilizing the physical fabric of the canal house, mitigating humidity risks from the Prinsengracht water level, and preserving original artifacts such as Anne’s handwriting and household items donated by former neighbors. The museum partners with conservation bodies and archives including the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency and uses scientific methods like dendrochronology, infrared imaging, and paper conservation techniques developed by the Rijksmuseum conservation labs. Scholarly research at the site has produced publications in cooperation with academics at Yale University, Cambridge University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Topics of study include provenance research on private papers, legal questions addressed by European courts concerning the Anne Frank Fonds (located in Basel), and historiography of Holocaust memory shaped by institutions such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem.

Visitor Experience and Education

The museum offers timed-entry visits, audio tours, and guided programs aimed at schools and international delegations from ministries such as the Dutch Ministry of Education and UNESCO delegations. Educational programs emphasize human rights, tolerance, and critical thinking, collaborating with NGOs like Amnesty International, Anne Frank Fonds, and the Anne Frank House’s own outreach teams. The site has hosted exhibitions and commemorations involving public figures including Elie Wiesel, Wim Kok, and Angela Merkel to underscore lessons from the Holocaust. Digital initiatives provide virtual tours and online archives used by teachers at institutions such as Columbia University, University of California, and secondary schools participating in International Holocaust Remembrance Day programming. Visitor numbers historically placed the museum among Amsterdam’s most visited sites, comparable to Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, while ongoing efforts balance public access with preservation and scholarly research.

Category:Museums in Amsterdam Category:Holocaust memorials Category:Biographical museums