As Living Memory of the Holocaust Fades, a Replica of Anne Frank’s Secret Annex Opens in New York City—an Immersive Experience for a New Generation
- By Lew Morningstar --
- 19 Oct 2024 --
The Number One non-fiction work of all time was written by a young girl hiding in a cramped Amsterdam warehouse annex with seven other people. Anne Frank and her companions were ultimately discovered by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps where all but her father, Otto Frank, perished.
After the war, when friends discovered Anne’s diary—it was one of the few items the Nazis ignored in ransacking the annex—Otto made it his life’s work to preserve and publish it. The world’s embrace of The Diary of a Young Girl prompted the establishment of a museum in 1960—the Anne Frank House—on the site of the original hiding place, yearly attracting more than a million visitors.
Now, a new generation, born decades after the war and living across the Atlantic, will be able to experience and learn about the person who is likely the most well-known Holocaust victim and the most well-known child of the last century. A full-scale replica of the room where Anne and her family hid will be on view at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan and “furnished as it would have been when Anne and her family were forced into hiding,” according to a statement from the organizers.
Beginning on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, visitors will have an immersive experience of Anne Frank’s world during those two desperate years in hiding. The organizers stress that the exhibit aims to teach new audiences about Anne “not as a victim but through the multifaceted lens of her life—as a girl, a writer, and a symbol of resilience and strength.”
Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, said, “The story of Anne has always been about more than just the past. It’s a call to action.” Citing the alarming rise in antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks on Israel—anti-Jewish hate crimes reached their highest number since data collection began some thirty years ago—Leopold said that Otto Frank stressed “the contemporary relevance of the diary…and that’s also the responsibility we feel right now.”
Though Anne’s original diary will remain in Amsterdam, the New York exhibit will feature over 100 artifacts from the Anne Frank House, including her first photo album, games and a friendship album with Anne’s meticulously hand-printed wishes for a close friend. The exhibit, an exact replica down to the wallpaper, took a team of more than 100 people months to construct. And, unlike the original annex in Amsterdam, which is largely empty, except for the photos on the walls to bear witness, the New York exhibit will include furnishings so that the rooms will look as they did when they were inhabited by Anne, her family and the others from 1942 until their capture in 1944.
Stuart Taberner, a professor at the University of Leeds, leading the Cambridge History of Holocaust Literature project, said, “As memories fade, it remains an important impetus to remember Jewish victims and to address the persistence of antisemitism, racism, and persecution of minorities.” The annex replica in New York will bring Anne’s story to new audiences, he said, but will also highlight “where antisemitism and prejudice more generally can lead.”
And as Anne herself prophetically wrote, “I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me! When I write I can shake off all my cares. My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived! But, and that’s a big question, will I ever be able to write something great? …”
The world has answered Anne’s “big question” with a resounding Yes.