During Thanksgiving week, I traveled to Europe with the family. It was the first time I have been to Europe in over 30yrs ago when I was a child. During graduate school, where I got my Master’s in Early American History, I had to read a lot of books on European history since they were the main colonizing powers that settled in what is now the United States. I was really looking forward to getting to Europe to see the landmarks I read about.
My first stop was in Amsterdam and, albeit it has nothing to do with early American history, I had to see the Anne Frank house.
It was the diary Anne Frank kept while in hiding from the Nazis after they tookover the Netherlands in the early 1940s that made her famous. They lived in the secret annex above her father’s, Otto Frank, business in Amsterdam for two-years until they were captured and sent to concentration camps. All died but Otto, who would later publish the diary and the world would hear the name Anne Frank for the first time.
That diary would bring to light the horror of Jews who were in hiding rather than go to almost certain death to the camps.
Here are a few tips about how to get the most out of the tour and historical facts.
1. They have tours up until 9pm. If you schedule an evening tour there is less staff, so you probably will have more time than the 15 minutes alotted to tour the secret annex since you won’t have staff pushing you out the door. Also, there is less people in the evening tours. I spoke with friends who went during the day and their experience was much more restrictive according to them.
2. Anne Frank and her family were in the annex with another couple and their teenage son, along with Miep Gies’, who was one of the helpers, dentist.
3. The first part of the tour is a history of the Nazi takeover of Germany, along with video footage of Otto Frank and others discussing the holocaust and the arrest at the secret annex. There is also video of survivors who saw Anne Frank shortly before she died at the camps.
4. The area is front of the annex is very peaceful. It is right in front of a bicycle trail and one of the famous Amsterdam canals. It is hard to imagine them hiding for two years knowing they could not go outside and enjoy the area.
5. Otto Frank had a loyal staff. Most of his staff were helpers who brought them food and supplies while in hiding. There has always been speculation one of them turned them in as the Nazis were offering cash payments to those that reported the wearabouts of Jews. However, that has never been proven. Rationcards were required and the helpers would sometimes buy extra rationcards on the black market. Some say that is what tipped off the Germans and it was not a specific tip from an individual.
6. The secret annex has some of the original furniture. When you go inside the annex you can feel the presence of those that were in hiding. The stovetops are originial and some of the other furniture. The bookcase that was used to hide the door leading to the annex is also original.
7. Photos are not allowed in the annex. Since I was on an evening tour, we did not have staff with us in the annex. You are not supposed to take photos, but there was no one there to monitor that. As a military man and as someone that respected the emotions of walking through the annex, I obeyed the rules. You can take pictures before and after walking through the annex.
8. You get to see the Anne Frank’s diary and her other writings. Otto Frank recieved some criticism for publishing her diary after the war. However, it is probably what Anne would have wanted. She had planned to take information from that diary and write a book about their life in the annex. She also wrote short stories and continued her diary on sheets of paper after her diary book was full. All of those are on display during the tour.
The visit is was well worth it and the tour was organized. I felt the evening tour allowed me more freedom to fully grasp what happened during the 2yrs of hiding in the annex and the aftermath. I highly recommend this tour if you are visiting Amsterdam.
