Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who had to go into hiding from the Nazis during the Second World War.
Life in Germany
Annelies Marie Frank is born on 12 June 1929 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. She is the second daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank-Holländer. Her sister Margot is three years old at the time. The first years of Anne’s life are carefree, until Hitler comes to power in 1933. The Jews are blamed for Germany’s economic problems, and anti-Jewish measures are introduced. Otto and Edith Frank are very worried, and want to leave Germany.
In 1933 Otto Frank gets the chance to set up a business in Holland. Edith, Margot and Anne follow him to Amsterdam. They find a flat on the Merwedeplein square, in an area with many other German Jewish families. The children go to school, Otto works hard at his Opekta business, and Edith takes care of the home. Then the Second World War breaks out. On 10 May 1940 Germany invades Holland. The Frank family are in danger again.
Now that Holland is occupied by the Nazis, more and more anti-Jewish measures are imposed. There are many changes for the Frank family. They cannot go to the park or the swimming pool, Anne and Margot have to go to a separate Jewish school, and Otto is forced to give up his business. When Margot receives her call-up papers for a work camp in Germany, Otto and Edith think the situation has become too dangerous. On 6 July 1942 the family go into hiding.
The hiding place
Otto and Edith are prepared. They have organised a secret hiding place, which they will share with four other Jewish people: Hermann and Auguste van Pels, their son Peter and Fritz Pfeffer. The hiding place is in an empty part of Otto’s business premises on the Prinsengracht canal. While work goes on as normal in the front part of the building, the people in hiding are concealed in the ‘secret annexe’ at the rear.
Tension
The warehouse employees do not know about the hiding place. When they are at work, the people in hiding have to remain completely silent. They have to flush the toilet as little as possible, because the waste pipes run through the warehouse. The people in hiding have to stay inside for 24 hours a day. Because of the cramped conditions and the fear of discovery the tension is high, and there are often arguments. Anne describes them in detail in her diary.
The Anne Frank House, a museum with a story
The Anne Frank House is made up of the former business premises of Otto Frank, including the secret annexe, together with a new building next door. The original building has as far as possible been kept in its original condition. In the museum, quotations from the diary, photos, films and original artefacts illustrate the events that took place in the hiding place. Download our museum guide in a language of your choice before you visit.
Hiding place
The rooms in the secret annexe have been left unfurnished. Shortly after the arrest, the possessions of the people in hiding were taken away. It was Otto Frank’s wish that the house should not be reconstructed as it was. The empty rooms symbolise the emptiness left by the millions of people who were taken away and never returned. But there are documents and objects belonging to the people in hiding on display, such as the bookcase concealing the secret door and the pictures that Anne put up in her room.
Diary
Since 2010, all of Anne Frank’s original manuscripts have been on display in the museum. The famous diary with its checked cover and Anne’s other diary papers are on permanent exhibition. Visitors can also see Anne’s ‘Favourite Quotes Notebook’ and her ‘Tales Book’ of short stories she made up herself.
New building
In the museum’s new building an interactive exhibition can be seen, as well as a temporary exhibition on Anne Frank. At the end of the route visitors can have a drink in the café or visit the bookshop.
Betrayed
On 4 August 1944 the people in hiding are arrested after being betrayed by an anonymous informant. The helpers Johannes and Victor are arrested on the same day, and taken to a German prison for interrogation. Miep and Bep are left behind at the building on the Prinsengracht. They save Anne’s diary papers.
The fate of the people in hiding
After first being taken to the Westerbork transit camp in Holland, the people in hiding are deported on the last transport to Auschwitz. Men and women are separated on arrival there. On the platform Otto sees his wife and children for the last time.
By the winter of 1944 the Russian army is approaching, and most of the prisoners are sent to Germany. Anne and Margot leave in an overcrowded train to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Edith remains in Auschwitz, where she dies of an illness on 6 January 1945. The conditions in Bergen-Belsen are terrible. Anne and Margot become ill. In March 1945 they both die of typhus.
Hermann, Auguste and Peter van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer also die in the concentration camps. Otto Frank is the only one of the eight people in hiding to survive the horrors of the camps. On 27 January 1945 he is liberated in Auschwitz by Russian soldiers.
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