Anne Frank House
No one can fathom the Holocaust. I know I can't. We learned about it, we see the numbers, but our minds literally are not capable of comprehending how humans could inflict such horrors on fellow humans.
The Anne Frank House, one of the most famous museums in the world, is a well-preserved piece of history that I think everyone should see for themselves if they have the opportunity.
Annelies Marie Frank, during her time in the attic, wrote that she wanted to publish her diaries under the name, "The Secret Annex," after her time in hiding concluded.
The Anne Frank House had been on my bucket list for a long time, and when VU offered an exclusive tour for Semester in Amsterdam students, I couldn't decline. The museum was the most significant and impactful physical heritage experience I had encountered on this trip thus far. At this point in the semester, I had been learning all about Dutch history and we had just learned about the Dutch involvement in WWII.
Out of all Western Europe, the Netherlands had the highest number of deported Jews. By the time Nazis raided the secret annex, 100,000 Jews had been deported, just in Amsterdam. The eight people hiding in the attic were on the last train from the Netherlands to Auschwitz. If the Nazis raided the annex only a couple days later than they did, the chances of the Franks' survival could have been increased, even if, only by a little. They still do not know who gave up their hiding place.
I wish I could describe in just words what this experience was like. I walked through with a heavy heart. I wandered the space, trying to picture myself in their shoes, but I still couldn't reach the level of abysmal horror that they felt while hiding. If the walls could speak.
Without the history class, this visit would have moved me; but because of what I learned and what the tour guide presented to us, that day was, dare I say, life changing. If I could sit you all down and give you an exhaustive history lesson on Dutch history and the lives of the Franks, and then tell you to tour the house, I would.
Unfortunately, we couldn't pull out phones out, even to check notifications, because photos were prohibited. The photos here are from https://www.annefrank.org/en/. All of these are located within the museum.
We started downstairs in the warehouse/storage room where the workers worked during the day. The eight in the annex held a strict schedule so they wouldn't be heard shuffling around while the warehouse workers worked below them. Only when the four helpers came to work could they move around freely, as their offices were located between the warehouse and the annex. Any movement from the annex would seem like movement from the offices.
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