Anne Frank’s world famous chestnut tree is back
A new horse chestnut tree, a shoot of the original one that inspired Anne Frank while writing her world famous diary arose as a phoenix.
The old tree grew till 2010 behind the Secret Annex. This is the house, the ‘Achterhuis’ on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, where Anne and her family stayed before they were captured by the Nazis during World War II, to die in Bergen Belsen.
The original tree was blown down by a storm in 2010. It is mentioned a few times in Anne’s diary, the book that turned into a worldwide bestseller with the title ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’. For many people it symbolizes the suffering of millions of people, especially Jews, during the Second World War.
Volunteers, working for two Dutch foundations (Elementree and Wereldboom) saved chestnuts from the original tree after it was felled by a storm in 2010. The ‘new’ Anne Frank Tree grew from the remains of the trunk of the original tree.
A two minute documentary film about the ‘new’ Anne Frank tree is available, free of charge, in the link: https://we.tl/t-yQVFyBF52a
Descendants of Anne Frank’s tree, symbol of tolerance and peace
In cooperation with Van den Berk’s Boomkwekerijen, one of the Dutch leading nurseries, seedlings have been developed. Those descendants of the ‘real’ Anne Frank tree are available for schools, municipalities, museums and others who wish to keep alive the memory of Anne Frank, her young girl’s reflections on life and her cruel fate.
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Further information
For further information, contact Mireille van Velde of Elementree (phone +31 6 124 09 669) or via m.vanvelde@elementree.nl More information about the project and seedlings in English, German, French and Dutch on