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| Do you ever get sick of this picture? Because I don't. |
'The English radio says they're being gassed. I feel terrible.'
- Anne Frank, 9 October, 1942
Amongst all the fun and dandiness I’ve been experiencing in Amsterdam, I tottered off early this morning to visit Anne Frank’s house. I didn’t know that they actually resided here in Amsterdam, but yep, and the house has been preserved with the secret annex and everything, and turned into an, as-I’m-sure-you-can-imagine, very popular museum. You weren’t allowed to take photos there in the museum, but it was absolutely astounding. If you’ve got an ounce of history in you then hopefully you’ll know a bit about Anne Frank, but she was born in 1929, and her family of four, including four others were hid by brave and generous people during the Nazi reign, to escape persecution for being Jewish. Anne Frank was given a diary as a 13th birthday present, and when her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, her diary went with her. Preserved are the years of torment and life locked up, Anne writes of how she longs to venture outside and the constant fear she lives in. We are allowed to walk through the house, see her childhood room with the posters and the movie stars pinned up on the walls, read about the risks people took to bring food and supplies to the hidden people, see the scratches on the wall that was used to measure the heights of the children over the two year period…Eventually they were discovered, and all 8 people are shipped off the concentration camps. No one survives the war except Otto Frank (Anne’s father) and he later turns to publish Anne’s diary as she had always wanted to be a writer. Visiting the house is a haunting experience…as with anything to do with the second world war, visiting a concentration camp…walking over Hitler’s bunker in Berlin…Europe still has today a lot of standing history associated with it. I would highly recommend going. Whilst today Amsterdam signifies buying all the legal drugs and partying, it leaves you speechless to witness a slice of what the Frank family had to endure, and it’s just hiding one house behind a street of constant social atmosphere.
- Anne Frank, 9 October, 1942
Amongst all the fun and dandiness I’ve been experiencing in Amsterdam, I tottered off early this morning to visit Anne Frank’s house. I didn’t know that they actually resided here in Amsterdam, but yep, and the house has been preserved with the secret annex and everything, and turned into an, as-I’m-sure-you-can-imagine, very popular museum. You weren’t allowed to take photos there in the museum, but it was absolutely astounding. If you’ve got an ounce of history in you then hopefully you’ll know a bit about Anne Frank, but she was born in 1929, and her family of four, including four others were hid by brave and generous people during the Nazi reign, to escape persecution for being Jewish. Anne Frank was given a diary as a 13th birthday present, and when her family went into hiding in Amsterdam, her diary went with her. Preserved are the years of torment and life locked up, Anne writes of how she longs to venture outside and the constant fear she lives in. We are allowed to walk through the house, see her childhood room with the posters and the movie stars pinned up on the walls, read about the risks people took to bring food and supplies to the hidden people, see the scratches on the wall that was used to measure the heights of the children over the two year period…Eventually they were discovered, and all 8 people are shipped off the concentration camps. No one survives the war except Otto Frank (Anne’s father) and he later turns to publish Anne’s diary as she had always wanted to be a writer. Visiting the house is a haunting experience…as with anything to do with the second world war, visiting a concentration camp…walking over Hitler’s bunker in Berlin…Europe still has today a lot of standing history associated with it. I would highly recommend going. Whilst today Amsterdam signifies buying all the legal drugs and partying, it leaves you speechless to witness a slice of what the Frank family had to endure, and it’s just hiding one house behind a street of constant social atmosphere.
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| Fine dining |
On
another sad note, it was time to leave. A farewell lunch complete with
cocktails and then final finals as Serena accompanied me to the airport. I had
the most amazing time here, and although it’s time to chip off to Denmark now,
I hope that Debbie, Kirsten and Serena know how much they mean to me, and that
I’m sure we’ll see each other again very soon.
Amsterdam,
out~
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