The Legacy of Anne Frank.
Beginning when she was just thirteen, Anne Frank wrote what is now the most widely read first person account of the holocaust. Aside from the book itself, there have been funds, and organizations set up in the name of Anne Frank, many involved greatly with charities and funds designed to help those who need it. In addition to that, The Diary of A Young Girl has been turned into movies, plays and much more.
Years after returning to Amsterdam, on May 3, of 1957, Otto Frank established the Anne Frank Stichting in an attempt to save the building that had housed their family as well as the van Pels family and Pfeffer. The building was scheduled for destruction, but Otto Frank wanted to keep the building, as it was when they lived there and make it open to the public. As a result of his hard work, the Anne Frank House opened three years later on May 3, 1960. The Anne Frank House is made up of the Opekta warehouse, offices and the Secret Annex. Those who came to visit the Anne Frank House were able to walk through all the rooms of the hiding place as they had been when Anne Frank and the others lived there. In 2005, there were 965,000 visitors, and is one of the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam.
Not only did Otto Frank preserve the secret annex, but, alongside his second wife, Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits, he also set up the Anne Frank Fonds, a charity foundation. Based in Switzerland, The Fonds donates the money to causes “as it sees fit”. In his will, Otto Frank indicated that it would be the Anne Frank Fonds that would receive the copyright of Anne’s Diary. Each year, the first 80,000 Swiss francs that the book produced would be distributed to all of Otto’s heirs, but after that, the rest could be given to whatever projects or administrations that the Fonds sees fit. One organization that it consistently gives to on a yearly basis is the Righteous Among the Nations, but also supports projects in countries such as Germany, Israel, India, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States.
The apartment that Anne and her family once lived in has been restored and now serves an entirely different purpose that that of the other restored locations in which Anne lived. This Merwedeplein apartment now serves as the home of a program for upcoming writers. Each year, a single writer from a country where they are unable to write freely is selected to live in this apartment for a year, where they are given the safety to write whatever they see fit. This project selected its first writer in the year 2005, where a writer from Algeria named El-Mahdi Acherchour was selected as the first participant of this project.
In addition to the many funds, charities and projects that have been set up in the name of Anne Frank, there have also been many different interpretations of her life through the arts. There have been several films made about the life of Anne Frank, but specifically about her time in hiding. Her life is often referenced in pop culture such as literature, music, television and other media. Some examples of these demonstrations of the arts include The Anne Frank Ballet by Adam Darius, performed for the first time in 1959, as well as the choral arrangement first performed in 2005 called Annelies.
In 1999, Anne Frank was added to the Time Magazine included Anne on the list of The Most Important People of the Cuntury for the 20th Century. Anne Frank has become a name that is recognized all over the world. By keeping a diary throughout an extremely difficult time, Anne Frank provided the world an insight into the life of an ordinary Jewish girl during the holocaust. The Diary of A Young Girl allows people of all ages to grasp just how horrible these times were, but through the eyes of a hopeful young girl, and for this, Anne Frank will continuously be remembered.
Years after returning to Amsterdam, on May 3, of 1957, Otto Frank established the Anne Frank Stichting in an attempt to save the building that had housed their family as well as the van Pels family and Pfeffer. The building was scheduled for destruction, but Otto Frank wanted to keep the building, as it was when they lived there and make it open to the public. As a result of his hard work, the Anne Frank House opened three years later on May 3, 1960. The Anne Frank House is made up of the Opekta warehouse, offices and the Secret Annex. Those who came to visit the Anne Frank House were able to walk through all the rooms of the hiding place as they had been when Anne Frank and the others lived there. In 2005, there were 965,000 visitors, and is one of the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam.
Not only did Otto Frank preserve the secret annex, but, alongside his second wife, Elfriede Geiringer-Markovits, he also set up the Anne Frank Fonds, a charity foundation. Based in Switzerland, The Fonds donates the money to causes “as it sees fit”. In his will, Otto Frank indicated that it would be the Anne Frank Fonds that would receive the copyright of Anne’s Diary. Each year, the first 80,000 Swiss francs that the book produced would be distributed to all of Otto’s heirs, but after that, the rest could be given to whatever projects or administrations that the Fonds sees fit. One organization that it consistently gives to on a yearly basis is the Righteous Among the Nations, but also supports projects in countries such as Germany, Israel, India, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States.
The apartment that Anne and her family once lived in has been restored and now serves an entirely different purpose that that of the other restored locations in which Anne lived. This Merwedeplein apartment now serves as the home of a program for upcoming writers. Each year, a single writer from a country where they are unable to write freely is selected to live in this apartment for a year, where they are given the safety to write whatever they see fit. This project selected its first writer in the year 2005, where a writer from Algeria named El-Mahdi Acherchour was selected as the first participant of this project.
In addition to the many funds, charities and projects that have been set up in the name of Anne Frank, there have also been many different interpretations of her life through the arts. There have been several films made about the life of Anne Frank, but specifically about her time in hiding. Her life is often referenced in pop culture such as literature, music, television and other media. Some examples of these demonstrations of the arts include The Anne Frank Ballet by Adam Darius, performed for the first time in 1959, as well as the choral arrangement first performed in 2005 called Annelies.
In 1999, Anne Frank was added to the Time Magazine included Anne on the list of The Most Important People of the Cuntury for the 20th Century. Anne Frank has become a name that is recognized all over the world. By keeping a diary throughout an extremely difficult time, Anne Frank provided the world an insight into the life of an ordinary Jewish girl during the holocaust. The Diary of A Young Girl allows people of all ages to grasp just how horrible these times were, but through the eyes of a hopeful young girl, and for this, Anne Frank will continuously be remembered.