Inside the Secret Annex “We can never be just Dutch, or just English, or whatever, we will always be Jews as well. But then, we'll want to be“ -Anne Frank

Introduction Though reading The Diary of Anne Frank may provide a powerful literary experience, one cannot truly appreciate the completeness of Anne’s real life struggle without witnessing her actual living arrangements. This virtual fieldtrip allows the reader to better understand Anne Frank’s experience in the secret annex.

Amsterdam After World War One, Germany plunges into economic crisis and Hitler comes to power. The Jews are persecuted in Germany and the Franks decide to leave Germany for Holland.

The Jam Factory "Because we are full blooded Jews, my father emigrated to Holland in 1933.He became managing director of the Dutch Opecta Company, which manufactures products used in making jam" The Germans occupied Holland after the war began in All Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. The Franks had a close friend in Amsterdam who manufactured jam and had a large house in the center of the city. (The house is highlighted in blue above)

A Safe Disguise –Like all Dutch houses in the center of Amsterdam, the house is in terraces and very high. No one from the outside knows how far back it extends. –The Franks lived above the warehouse and at the rear of the house. As the jam factory kept working they had to be silent during the day, not able to flush the toilet for fear of arousing suspicion below

Behind the Bookcase Behind a bookcase is a secret staircase and several rooms for the Frank family (all 8 of them) to hide in above the jam factory warehouse.

A Tight Fit "We have to whisper and tread lightly during the day, otherwise the people in the warehouse might hear us" Jam Factory Warehouse Secret Annex

Close Quarters The family relies on scraps of food from friends and some days have nothing to eat. Anne wishes to go outside and smell fresh air but that is impossible as the German army are rounding up Jews and sending them to concentration camps to work or be gassed to death.

Inside Anne’s Bedroom Photograph from 1930’sAnne Frank Museum in 2004

The Betrayal After years in hiding, the family were betrayed. No one knows who or why but all 8 members of the Frank family and the people owning the jam factory were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Anne’s family was transported to Auschwitz Concentration camp for sorting.

A Legacy Left Behind Anne's diary was left in the house and there is no record of what happened to her apart from German records from the concentration camps.

Farewell For Now Anna Frank dies of typhus and deprivation in March 1945 in Bergen- Belsen a few days after her sister Margot. Bergen-Belsen is liberated by the British Army on April 15, “One day this terrible war will be over. The time will come when we will be people again and not just Jews!”

Anne’s diary was first printed in Dutch in 1947, then French and German. By 1951 an English edition was published. The diary became world famous, and today it is printed in approximately 67 different languages and has sold more than 31 million copies.

A young Dutch victim of the Holocaust and the author of a famous diary Anne Frank has become a symbol of 1.5 million children who died in the Holocaust. For many people Anne Frank became a symbol of the six million Jewish men, women, and especially the children who were murdered by the Nazis in the WWII. It is almost impossible to comprehend this number, but the story of Anne Frank makes it possible to understand what the war meant for one of these victims.