Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Models of the Secret Annex
Two models—of the two floors where Anne's family lived with the
rest—use dollhouse furniture to help you envision life in the now
bare living quarters. In the first model, find the swinging bookcase
that hid the secret entrance leading to Anne's parents' room (with
wood stove). Anne's room is next to it, with a blue bed, a brown
sofa, a table/chair/bookcase ensemble, and photos on the wall. On
the upper floor (the next model) was the living room and the Van
Pels' rooms. All told, eight people lived in a tiny apartment smaller
than 1,000 square feet.
• After viewing the important five-minute video, go upstairs to the
offices/warehouses of the front half of the building.
First Floor: Offices
From these offices, Otto Frank ran a successful business called
Opekta, selling spices and pectin for making jelly. When the
Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933, Otto had moved his fam-
ily from Frankfurt to tolerant Amsterdam, hoping for a better life.
Photos and displays
show Otto with some of his colleagues.
During the Nazi occupation, while the Frank family hid in the
back of the building, these brave people kept Otto's business run-
ning, while secretly bringing supplies to the Franks. Miep Gies,
Otto's secretary (see her in the video), brought food every few days,
while bookkeeper Victor Kugler cheered up Anne with the latest
movie magazines.
• Go upstairs to the
...
Second Floor: Warehouse
At first, the Nazi overlords were tolerant of, and even friendly
with, the vanquished Dutch. But soon they imposed restrictions
that affected one in ten Amsterdammers—that is, Jews. Jews had
to wear yellow-star patches and register with the police. They were
forbidden in movie theaters and on trams, and even forbidden to
ride bikes.
In February of 1941, the Nazis started rounding up Jews, ship-
ping them by train to “work camps,” which, in reality, were tran-
sit stations on the way to death camps in the east. Outraged, the
people of Amsterdam called a general strike that shut down the city
for two days...but the Nazis responded with even harsher laws.
In July of 1942, Anne's sister Margot got her
call-up notice
for a “work-force project.” Otto handed over the keys to the busi-
ness to his Aryan colleagues, sent a final postcard to relatives, gave
the family cat to a neighbor, spread rumors they were fleeing to
Switzerland, and prepared his family to “dive under” (
onderduik,
as
it was called) into hiding.
