Qualla: Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House: Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The bookcase swings open on its hinges, revealing the narrow doorway behind. This is the entrance to the Achterhuis, the Secret Annex, where Anne Frank, her family, and four others spent two years and one month hiding from Nazi persecution. The building at Prinsengracht 263 was constructed in 1635, renovated in 1740, and had served as everything from a private residence to a stable to a piano roll factory before Otto Frank moved his spice company there in December 1940. Less than two years later, the back of this ordinary canal house would become the setting for one of the most widely read books of the twentieth century.

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Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Anne Frank House: The Annex

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Achterhuis, Dutch for back house, was concealed from view by buildings on all four sides of a quadrangle. Its secluded position made it an ideal hiding place for the Frank family, the Van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer, eight people in total. Johannes Voskuijl, father of one ...

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Image: IISG | CC BY-SA 2.0

Anne Frank House: Helpers and Hiding

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rob Bogaerts / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl. Otto Frank's employees risked their lives to protect the hidden families. Miep Gies and Bep Voskuijl worked in the front office, keeping the business running while secretly supplying the annex with food and news. Johannes Kleiman and Victor Kugler managed the company and the dece...

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Image: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo | CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Anne Frank House: From Diary to Museum

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Filius humanitas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam in June 1945 and was given his daughter's diaries. He compiled her writings into a book published in Dutch in 1947 under the title Het Achterhuis, the name Anne had chosen for a future memoir about her experiences. The English translation, release...

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Image: Filius humanitas | CC BY-SA 4.0

Anne Frank House: Living Memory

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hide-sp, CC BY-SA 3.0. Today, the Anne Frank House receives over 1.2 million visitors annually, making it the third most visited museum in the Netherlands after the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum. The rooms of the Secret Annex remain empty, as they were after the Nazi raid, but the building has be...

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Image: Hide-sp | CC BY-SA 3.0