After all these years—today, I finally went to Anne Frank Huis!
For those who don’t know who Anne Frank is, she is a Jewish girl who went into hiding together with her family (they were German Jews who immigrated to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi tensions) in the secret annex house in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam during the World War II. She wrote a diary of her day to day life in the secret annex house. The Nazis eventually found out about their existence and they the whole family was deported to the concentration camps in Germany and Poland. She and her sister ended up in Bergen-Belsem in Germany where they both died while her parents were sent to Auschwitz in Poland. Only her father, Otto Frank, survived the holocaust.
The Anne Frank Huis (Museum) in Jordaan beside the Westerkerk (church) along Prinsengracht and the loooooooooong queue at the ticket sales. Even at 5PM, the queues are still long. So either you come early at 9AM or buy the ticket online.
Fotos are not allowed inside and me being an obedient visitor did not take any. The foto of a postcard above is the bookcase that hides the entrance to the secret annex house where Anna Frank and her family lived.
The whole Anne Frank Huis is moving and heart breaking. She actually wrote the diary in the hopes that it will get published after the war, and it did, but without her knowing. She became the most celebrated face of the holocaust (not sure if this is the right phrase to say it?).
Anne wrote:
“The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings, otherwise I‘d absolutely suffocate.â€
“But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great, will I ever become a journalist or a writer?â€
“But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine having to live like Mother, Mrs. Van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people.â€
8 people lived in the secret annex house and I won’t delay you anymore with stories about it, you’ll have to go there yourself or buy the Anne Frank Diary book that has been translated into all languages I think, or rather, read the website and read through the history timeline and the characters involved, the link is on the first paragraph of this entry.
The visit actually reminded me of my trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland last year. It is so sad. The horrors are unspeakable.
TIP: Buy the Anne Frank tickets online! 9 EUROS per person. No queuing! Romy, a girl friend, and I made a beeline to the entrance of Anne Frank Huis passing the looooong train of guests slash tourists queuing up at the ticket sales counter. You know, I have no patience queuing, so long live online tickets!
Here are a few fotos I took in and around Jordaan:
Top to bottom: Prinsengracht (Princes Canal) in Jordaan; Typical Dutch – parents with kids on bikes; Black cat on the cafe entrance; Noorderkerk (church) at Noordermarkt; Brouwersgracht (Brewers Canal)
The Anne Frank Stichting that manages the museum and all related publication is an organization that fights against racism, and all I can say, with its world wide popularity and the hundreds of people that visit the museum everyday, it is a very wealthy organization!
Visit Period: February 2011
Destination: Amsterdam Centrum (North Holland), The Netherlands