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Anne Frank in Holland

Anne Frank in Holland provides educational guided tours following the footsteps of Anne Frank in Holland before and during World War 2. By visiting the places where she lived, played and went to school, as well as the places she was brought to after the arrest by the Germans, this tour is designed to tell her story beyond the Secret Annex, and most importantly tell the story of the other people caught in that war, Jews, non-Jewish Dutch and Germans.

Introduction

The starting point of the tour, just outside the house she lived for as long as she could remember

Anne Frank moved to Amsterdam with her family when she was 5 years old, in 1934, on the run from the Nazi's in Germany. In 1942, with the Germans having occupied the Netherlands, the Frank family went in hiding in the now famous Secret Annex where she would write her diary. Sadly, in 1944 they were discovered and sent to transit Camp Westerbork in the east of the country, before being transferred to Auschwitz. Anne, with her sister Margot, died in February 1945 in Bergen Belsen.

Of course, Anne’s story is just one of thousands and thousands of stories, of people living under enormously difficult circumstances, which are all worth remembering. Unfortunately, we often think about the Holocaust and German occupation in terms of numbers. More than a 100.000 Jewish people killed from Holland, 6 million total victims of the holocaust, about 150.000 Dutch civilian victims, the numbers are mind numbing. And behind each of these numbers lies a human story, of the victims, the perpetrators, people that helped them or betrayed them, people trying to hide or fight.

What makes Anne Frank unique is that, because of her diary, she became an individual after the war, a person we could understand, love and recognize as a teenager perhaps not unlike the teenagers we were ourselves, or our children today.  And through her story, and by tracing her footsteps, we have an opportunity to touch upon the lives of some of the other people in those years as well.

Why this tour?

Antisemitism is on the rise. Every year 1 million people visit the Anne Frank House, a very impressive place and extremely important to try to understand life in the Secret Annex. However, for Anne and the others there was a real life out there, real memories of their homes, schools and work, friends and family. And real dreams of places to visit, things to do, people to meet after they would get out. By showing the area they lived in before going into hiding and showing the stories of all the things that happened there we hope to bring these things to life.

Unfortunately, they never tasted freedom, and that story of the last months in the camps also needs to be told. The shock of suddenly being among so many people in the trains and camps must have been overwhelming, and we will reflect on that by going to these camps close to the German border and tell what happened there.

Ultimately all the people will we talk about, and the events and stories behind them are about making choices. In the war everyday people were forced to make extremely hard choices all the time. Do I follow orders, or not? Do I go into hiding? Do I fight back, or protect my family? Do I obey and hope for the best? Am I going to help others or look away? The answer to any of those questions could be the difference between life and death.

By going on this tour we will bring back the time and circumstances in which normal people made those choices. We hope this helps with reflecting on the choices we have to make today, each one of us, in making sure current and future generations will never face those type of choices again. So we can all do our little bit to stop this Antisemitism and racism in the world, once and for all.

The 1st Montessori School , now Anne Frank School where she went until forced to go to a Jewish children only school

Tour Summary

On this tour you will walk in the footsteps of Anne Frank and learn about the World War 2 stories, events and motives from a Jewish, Dutch and German perspective. You will go you to the places Anne Frank lived, played and went to school before going into hiding, places that look today almost exactly like it was in her time. And by following her footsteps, you will learn about many more people, places and events to tell the story of the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War 2.

In a one-day walking tour you will visit significant sites in Amsterdam, normal, beautiful neighbourhoods where behind the doors of houses and schools important events took place. You will be looking at original photographs while standing at the very spot they were taken, finding out about the stories behind the pictures. And in a one-day tour outside Amsterdam we will take you to Camp Westerbork, the transit camp from where Anne Frank, and more than a 100.000 Jewish people with her were sent to Auschwitz and other camps. Not many would return.

Themes

Normal People under abnormal circumstances: Anne’s neighbourhood in Amsterdam South and the German Headquarters

At this part of the tour touching stories about Dutch people resisting and fighting -or collaborating with- the Germans are told, about acts of bravery and cowardice, loyalty and betrayal. You visit the neighbourhood where Anne Frank lived before going into hiding and the place where she, and many others, were first taken prisoner after being discovered. Most of the places you visit haven’t changed much at all so the walk, supported by original photos from the war, will give you a genuine idea what it would have been like, and you will be amazed how much happened in such a small area of Amsterdam. Ultimately, we will ask the question why normal people, Dutch, Jewish and Germans, acted the way they did, and we will try to imagine how things would be if we had lived in that area in those difficult years.

Caught in the machinations of madness: The Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam

Although you would have seen that many Jews were simply picked up from their homes, the Jewish quarter saw some of the most violent and heartbreaking scenes of the war in Amsterdam. This is where the Jewish Council had its office, where orphanages and hospitals where located and the old theatre where many Jews where held before being sent on transport. It was also the site of fighting and where the February strike is remembered, where resistance fighters sabotaged records, and where many Jewish children escaped, and others remained hidden. Today there are several Jewish museums remembering the rich history of this community in Amsterdam since the 17^th century, and of course you can visit the world-famous Portuguese Synagogue here, remarkably undamaged in the war.

Camp Westerbork, from where 107000 people where sent on transport to the east, including the Frank family. Only 5000 survived.

Losing one’s individuality, the struggle to stay human: Camp Amersfoort and Camp Westerbork

Once being put on transport all connection with one’s previous, normal life was lost. People had to adjust to a new reality, and only those who managed to do that had a small chance of survival. The Nazi’s had perfected a system to control the masses, to keep giving people some sense of hope as long as they followed orders, and to desensitize them so they could drive them to an unimaginable fate before people realized what was happening. Families and friends desperately tried to stay together. The struggle was not just for survival, but to keep a sense of being human, some sense of normality, often just for a reason to keep fighting. We don’t have Anne’s words anymore from these last months, but we do have witnesses who suffered with her, and the many stories of those that did survive.

Concluding

The sites you will visit will form the background to the wider stories about what happened, the why and the how, and how it fits in with the larger developments and history of Nazi Germany. In this way, and accompanied with authentic photo material, this time will be as close as possible to our own experience. Normal people lived in normal places, in average neighbourhoods, went to schools and work and enjoyed their sports. After the war these places resumed these functions, and these neighbourhoods look like nothing ever happened. But terrible things did happen to these people, and it is important to remember them, while ultimately asking the question: Could this happen again in our time?

External links

• www.historytoursnetherlands.nl