Anne Frank
Annelies Marie Frank (12 June 1929 – February 1945) was a German-born diarist and writer. She is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her diary, The Diary of a Young Girl, which documents her life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, is one of the world's most widely known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.
Born in the city of Frankfurt, Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941 and thus became stateless. The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in the early 1930s when the Nazis gained control over Germany. By May 1940, they were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father worked. In August 1944, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died (probably of typhus) in February or March 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated in April.
Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that Anne's diary had been saved by one of the helpers, Miep Gies, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch version and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl, and has since been translated into over 60 languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her thirteenth birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.
link
The Chestnut Tree
The Anne Frank tree was a horse-chestnut tree in the city center of Amsterdam that was featured in Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank described the tree from The Annexe, the building where she and her family were hiding from the Nazis during World War II.
Over the years, the tree deteriorated significantly due to both a fungus and a moth infestation. The Borough Amsterdam Centrum declared that the tree had to be cut down on 20 November 2007 due to the risk that it could otherwise fall down, but on 21 November 2007 a judge issued a temporary injunction stopping the removal. The Foundation and the neighbours developed an alternative plan to save the tree. The neighbours and supporters formed the Foundation Support Anne Frank Tree which carried out the suggested supporting construction and took over the maintenance of the tree.
On 23 August 2010, the tree was blown down by high winds during a storm, breaking off approximately 1 metre (3.3 ft) above ground. It fell across a garden wall and damaged garden sheds but did not damage anything else. The tree was estimated to be between 150 and 170 years old...
...On 24 August 2010 it was reported that a small side shoot was growing out of the stump below where it broke, and it is hoped that it will grow into a new tree. There are plans to keep large pieces of the fallen trunk and its large branches. The fallen tree is estimated to weigh about 27 metric tons.
Some of the images in the Reuters report show, for most of the cross-section of the trunk, the characteristic fracture pattern of decayed wood across all the trunk cross-section except a thin rim of sapwood.
The fallen wood has now been removed.
Eleven saplings from the tree are being distributed in the United States to museums, schools, parks and Holocaust remembrance centers through a project led by The Anne Frank Center USA. The first sapling was planted in April 2013 at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Other saplings are being sent to a New York City park honoring 9-11 victims, a Little Rock, Arkansas school that was the center of a desegregation battle, with a separate sapling going to the Clinton Presidential Center, also in Little Rock, the latter being a partnership with the city's Congregation B'nai Israel Sisterhood;and sites in Massachusetts, California, Idaho, Michigan and Washington, D.C..
On the 25th of February 2015, a sapling was planted in Lister Park, Bradford, UK."
extracted from this link
The sapling in Lister Park
This Grade II Listed Historic Park was originally the grounds of Samuel Cunliffe Lister’s family home, Manningham Hall. In 1870 he donated the area to Bradford on the condition that they maintain the park for the benefit of the people of Bradford. He also paid for the demolition of his house, and the erection of a new art gallery. The gallery known as Cartwright Hall was completed in 1903 and was the centre piece of the Bradford Industrial Exhibition of 1904, which was visited by the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The sapling has been planted in sight of Cartwright Hall. It has been surrounded with metal railings for protection and has a plaque with the following text.
ANNE FRANK'S TREE
(a sapling taken from the original chestnut tree)
planted by
Lord Mayor of Bradford Cllr. Mike Gibbons and Dr. Eva Schloss MBE
"How wonderful it is that no-one need wait but can start right now to
gradually change the world" Ann Frank
Encouraging young people to learn through experiences of the past
to make a difference today.
STAND UP, SPEAK OUT, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
(#SUSOMAD)
| Sponsored by | | Arranged with |
| Bradford Children's Services | | The Ann Frank Trust UK |
| Diversity and Cohesion Service | | www.annefrank.org.uk |
| Youth Offending Team | | Reg. charity no. 100329 |
with thanks to: The Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, who gave the sapling
from the original Anne Frank tree to Bradford.