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The Anne Frank House is one of the most popular sites in Europe. A museum dedicated to Frank and her Jewish family, the destination served as a hiding place for the Franks and others during World War II, as they were hiding from the Nazis.
For the first-time ever, the nonprofit organization behind the museum will bring its work to New York City in partnership with the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, together debuting “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” a full-scale recreation of the annex, complete with the furniture pieces that adorned the space during Frank’s years in hiding.
The new exhibit will be mounted at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16h Street by Fifth Avenue in Union Square. The production will run from January 27, 2025—International Holocaust Remembrance Day—through April 30, 2025.
"As a custodian of Anne’s legacy, we have an obligation to help world audiences understand the historical roots and evolution of antisemitism, including how it fueled Nazi ideology that led to the Holocaust," said Ronald Leopold, the executive direction of the Anne Frank House, in an official statement. "Anne’s legacy is remarkable, as represented in the diary she left us, and as one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered at the hands of Nazi officials and their collaborators. Through this exhibition, the Anne Frank House offers insights into how this could have happened and what it means for us today."
Ticket holders will walk through the recreated hiding spot and browse through a collection of artifacts that includes Frank's first photo album, handwritten notes to her friends and more. Some of the items on display will be viewed by the public for the first time ever.
Clearly an extremely important piece of history, the project feels imbued with new purpose when analyzed through the prism of today's world order and the rise of antisemitism in New York specifically (according to official police data, in 2023, 88% of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims and, in 2024, the number of similar cases has increased).
The folks behind the exhibit hope that the production will help educate while shedding light on the issues that the Jewish population is facing worldwide.
"As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in January, Anne Frank’s story becomes more urgent than ever," said Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld, the President of the Center for Jewish History, in an official statement before mentioning Anne Frank's Diary, the book that the victim's father Otto published following her passing, a direct reproduction of his daughter's personal chronicle of her young life and her family's time in hiding. "In a time of rising antisemitism, her diary serves as both a warning and a call to action, reminding us of the devastating impact of hatred. This exhibition challenges us to confront these dangers head-on and honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust."
Anne Frank died at the age of 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in February or March of 1945. Visiting the upcoming exhibit is only one way to keep her memory alive.