Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House (Dutch: Anne Frank Huis) is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in central Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

During World War II, when the Netherlands was occupied by Germany, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms, in the rear building, of the 17th-century canal house, later known as the Secret Annex (Dutch: Achterhuis). She did not survive the war but her wartime diary was published in 1947. Ten years later, the Anne Frank Foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block.

The entire museum, which occupies the three adjacent buildings on the street front of Prinsengracht 263 to 267, opened on 3 May 1960. It preserves the hiding place (the Secret Annex at rear of 263), with the other buildings expanding the permanent exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, and has an exhibition space about all forms of persecution and discrimination. In 2017, the museum had 1.27 million visitors and was the third most visited museum in the Netherlands, after the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum.

Building history

The Anne Frank House is a historic building in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was originally built in 1635 and had many uses over the years, including as a home, a warehouse, and a business office.

During World War II, the building became a hiding place for Anne Frank, her family, and four others. They stayed hidden for two years until they were found by Nazi authorities. Today, the house is a museum dedicated to Anne Frank and her story.

The building includes hidden rooms where Anne and the others lived in secret. These rooms are now preserved to show visitors what life was like for those in hiding during the war.

Anne’s diaries, which she wrote while in hiding, were later published and have become famous worldwide. They give us a special look at her life and experiences during a very difficult time.

Museum history

After Anne Frank's diary was published, people wanted to see the hidden rooms where she and her family stayed during World War II. But in 1955, a company planned to tear down the building. Thanks to many people speaking up, the building was saved.

The Anne Frank Foundation was created in 1957 to buy and fix up the building. They opened it as a museum in 1960. Over time, more and more people visited, so the museum needed changes to welcome everyone. Today, the museum also has online tours so people all over the world can learn about Anne Frank's story. The museum shows many special items, including an award won by an actress for playing a character in a movie about Anne Frank.

Administration

See also: Anne Frank Foundation

Ronald Leopold has been the executive director of the museum since 2011, and Garance Reus-Deelder has been the managing director since 2012.

The museum welcomed many visitors each year. In 2012, about 1.15 million people visited, and this number grew to around 1.29 million by 2016. Even with some renovations in 2017, the museum remained very popular, becoming the third most visited museum in the Netherlands that year, after the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. The museum is part of the Museumvereniging, or Museum Association.