Friday, October 3rd
West and East Amsterdam: Anne Frank House; "Tropical Museum"
		Anne Frank House  During World War II a Jewish girl called Anne Frank kept a diary. She wrote about her experience while she and her family were hiding in a house in Amsterdam where they had to flee to. Today, the former hiding-place of Anne Frank, her family and friends of the family is a world-known museum. Anne’s diary and the museum informed us about the destiny of the eight persons who were hiding and of the ones who helped them. We saw several original documents of that time, like Anne's diary and some of her letters. We were surprised how big the hiding-place was and sad at the same time because that was the place where a family was forced to hide for two years in fear. Posters and pictures of Anne's and the curtains which hid the family from the dangerous outside give an idea of how the people had to live. Anne had been a young girl with the same wishes every other girl had but she could not realize her dreams only because she was Jewish.When we left the museum, there was a thoughtful atmosphere and the pictures of the hiding-place will stay in our mind for sure. The museum is renovated but still authentic and tells a lot about how many people had to live during World War II. The review on the museum was mainly positive and the visit made us think about the importance of exhibitions like this one and of the story of Anne Frank. Before and after the visit, two referents gave us further background information about Anne and the situation at the time of World War II. More information about Anne Frank is available on the official website (annefrank.org) and on the PDF's at the end of this site.

Anne Frank - photographs Jewish American Literature and the case of Anne Frank Holocaust in American Culture International Slave Trade     Newspaper article about Anne Frank    (02/11/08, Rotterdams Dagblad)