Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

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You've been living under a rock if you don't know the story but it takes on completely different perspective to experience where it all took place. This most-visited of Amsterdam's tourist attractions does a remarkable job - both through their extensive website and on-site displays - of dispelling any romantic notions of juvenile diary scribbling one may had gotten from book, play or movie and presenting the facts in stark reality.

Casual readers of the diary may not know that the Frank family were not Dutch but German Jews who had fled Frankfurt to Amsterdam to escape the ominous beginnings of Hitler's regime when Annelies Marie Frank was little more than a toddler. The small plaid volume presented as a birthday gift shortly before the family went into hiding was really an autograph book that, because it had a lock, made a perfect vehicle for keeping a teenager girl's thoughts away from prying parental eyes. But the pages were quickly filled and she continued her writing on loose-leaf paper and notebooks, rewriting the original in hopes of having it published as a novel after the war. "The Diary Of a Young Girl" as it stands is Otto Frank's compilation of both original and revised material with passages edited out and selected use of Anne's pseudonyms for household members.

The living quarters comprised 3 upper floors of a rear annex to Mr. Frank's larger office building that are reached via steep, narrow flights of stairs. The rooms are small, dark and unfurnished; the Nazi captors having emptied them of furniture and most possessions as was customary. The website has representations of how they would have looked when occupied so you can get the feel of how claustrophobic that 2-year confinement must have been for eight people.

Exhibits in Otto Frank's former office and and newer wings of the building provide displays of some of the few relics that weren't appropriated after arrest, family photos, general overviews of the Holocaust and, of course, the diary and other of Anne's original documents. Online guides are available in 21 languages and the website is packed with great background information you should explore before your visit: VERY highly recommended if taking children.

Know before you go:

• Time-specific tickets can be ordered through the website: recommended as this is a heavily visited attraction

• Because of the steep stairs it's not accessible to wheelchairs or other mobile disabilities and could be uncomfortable for persons who dislike small, crowded spaces. See the accessibility section of the website for visiting the cafe, book shop and new wing exhibits.

• The I Amsterdam Pass is not valid here

• They do not have a coat/bag check. Large backpacks or luggage must be left in lockers at the train station or at your hotel. Prams/strollers can be parked near the information desk.

• No photos or filming of any kind is allowed, and please turn off your phone

• The bookshop is a great place to buy a copy of the diary in any of 24 languages for daughters, granddaughters, nieces, etc.

• Open every day of the year but hours vary so see this page for hours, ticket prices, etc.

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Just like any other touristy activity there's a line..... :o)

I would have liked to have gone in and viewed the place where Anne Frank lived during the WW. Her story is amazing and one of great courage.

Anyway, I was quite content with having our picture taken with her around the corner at her statue. Someone had already kindly put a posy of roses there for us too :o)

In photo 2 you can see the line at the Anne Frank House. I wasn't waiting in that line!! :o)

I highly recommend going, especially if you've read the diary. It's a very daunting yet touching experience, to walk through where they walked and to actually see Anne's diary. Learning about Otto Frank, Anne's father, and his survival and determination to publish his daughter's diaries is very inspiring. A must-do when visiting Amsterdam, in a way unforgettable.

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The Anne Frank House is Amsterdam's number one tourist attraction. As such each day a long line of visitors is waiting to get inside. If you want to avoid that line be early (8.45AM) or visit the house in the evening in the Summer period.

The Anne Frank House with its "Achterhuis" is the place where Anne Frank and her family hide from the Germans during World War II.

Annelies Marie Frank was born at 12 juni 1929 at Frankfurt am Main-Germany. She is the second daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank-Holländer. Her sister is Margot who is three years older. Otto works at a bank owned by the Frank family.
In 1933 the NDSAP with Adolf Hitler as its leader comes to power and the discrimination of Jews starts. Otto starts a company in the Netherlands and Edith looks for a house that she finds at the Merwedeplein at Amsterdam. In 1934 he two girls move to the new house after having stayed at their grandmother Holländer at Aachen.
Anne attends a Montessori school.

At May 10, 1940 the German Army invades the Netherlands and many restrictions are forced upon Jewish population.
On her 13th birthday Anne gets a diary. She starts writing from that day on. The rumours that Jews will be transported to Germany are true. At July 5, 1942 Margot receives a notice to report herself.
The Frank family had expected the notice and father Frank already had started preparing a hideout at the building where he his office is (the present Anne Frank House).
Not only the Frank family hides at the Achterhuis; also the van Pels family, Hermann and Auguste and their son zoon Peter, also do.
The families are helped by the office workers Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler and Bep Voskuijl. In November 1942 Fritz Pfeffer joins to two families.

Life is difficult. The eight people hiding have to stay indoors day and night. During daytime when the office and basement warehouse is in operation, they have to stay quiet and not operate the bathroom. Living so close together is hard without quarrels. At times the situation gets tense.
During lunchbreak they get the latest news on the ongoing deportations and what is happening in the concentration camps. In 1944, after D-Day, they are waiting to be liberated and hope for peace.

Unfortunately someone betrays the families and at August 4, 1944 a SS-officer and three Dutch policemen enter the building and force Victor Kugler to show them the hideout. All are arrested and brought to prison. Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl stay behind and save Anne's diary.

The families are transported to camp Westerbork at August 8, 1944. At September 3 1019 Jews, including both families, are deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in a terrible three day train journey. Men and women are seperated and two families are forced to hard labour. Hermann van Pels is the first to die.
At the end of Octobre Anne and Margot are being transported to Bergen-Belsen and both die in March 1945 from typhoid fever. Their mother who stayed at Auschwitz already died in January.

Otto Frank is the only one who survives the war; Auschwitz is liberated at January 27, 1945. Otto returns to Amsterdam at June 3, 1945. He knows his wife died, but still has hope to find his daughters. He meets the four office workers who helped the family and they return the personal belongings, including Anne's diary. At July 18 Otto meets the sisters Brilleslijper who witnessed the dead of Anne and Margot. After reading Anne's diary he decides to grant Anne's wish to publish her experiences after the War.

Opening hours:
January through mid-March:
Daily: 9AM - 7PM

Mid-March through June:
Su-Fr: 9AM - 9PM
Sa: 9AM - 10PM

July through August:
Daily: 9AM - 10PM

September through mid-September:
Su-Fr: 9AM - 9PM
Sa: 9AM - 10PM

Mid-September through December:
Daily: 9AM - 7PM

Admission fee: € 8,50 (adult)

Avoid waiting in line.

I spent most of the morning here. No pictures are allowed inside like there were on my first trip during my college days. Too bad I cannot find my old pictures, that was a long time ago.

I did not go during my 2002 trip because of the long lines so arrive very early or very late should you be in Amsterdam during the tourist season. . No problems with lines early in the morning at the end of September.

See the web link for additional information.

You should go when you are in Amsterdam.

Please rate this and my other tips whey you find them useful.

This house made famous by this young girl is extremely crowded....but worth the wait.....one must imagine how it must have been to be stuck in a small house with 8 other adults and not be able to go outside to breathe fresh air, because the Nazi's had control all of Europe and had hit squads looking for the Jews all over Amsterdam....very humbling place to see and be at. But the line outside usually runs about an hour to get in.

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For over two years, Anne Frank and her familia lived in the annex of the building at Prisengracht 263 with four othe people. The doorway to the annex was concealed behind a moveable bookcase constructed especially for this purpose. On 4 August 1944 the hiding place was betrayed and they were deported to various concentration camps. Otto Frank was the only one who survived the war. Quotes from her diary, photographs, historical documentss, film images and original objects that belonged to tose in hiding illustrate the events that took place. Anne Frank´s original diary i son display in the museum.

Durante más de dos años, Ana Frank y su Familia vivió en el anexo del edificio en Prisengracht 263 con cuatro personas más. La puerta de entrada al anexo se ocultó detrás de una estantería móvil construído especialmente para este propósito. El 4 de agosto de 1944, el escondite fue traicionado y que fueron deportados a diferentes campos de concentración. Otto Frank fue el único que sobrevivió a la guerra. Citas de su diario, fotografías, documento s históricos, imágenes de películas y objetos originales que pertenecieron a los escondidos ilustrar los acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar. Diario original de Ana Frank se encuentra exhibido en el museo.

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I believe that the importance in visit the "Anne Frank" museum is, above all, the powerful experience and the very important lesson from a very young girl, in a different life, different times but not so long ago.
Many books been published with the association of Anne Frank, but visit the house is a different experience.