Everyone should visit the Anne Frank house. We can’t forget what people were put through, especially Jewish people, during World War II and the Holocaust. While concentration camps are incredibly important to see, some people may find it simply too hard, but the Anne Frank house is something everyone at any age should see.
Anne Frank hid in this home in Amsterdam from the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. For two years she lived hidden in the home until she was discovered in 1944. In 1945 she died (arguably murdered) in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp.
Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929, just as Hitler started his campaign for power. When the antisemitism in Germany rose to a scary level, her parents Otto and Edith Frank decided to move the family to Amsterdam, where Otto founded a company. There, Anne went to school, learned the language, and made a new home.
On 1 September 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and on the 10 May 1940 they invaded the Netherlands and the occupation began. They imposed the same kind of antisemitic rules there, and on the 5 July 1942 Margot, Anne’s elder sister was called to report to a so-called “labor” camp. Her parents were rightly suspicious, so they went into hiding to escape persecution.
This is where Anne Frank’s diary began. Anne and her sister died of exhaustion and typhus in February 1945. Otto, her father, was the only one of their family to survive the war, and he was present for the official opening of the Anne Frank House on 3 May 1960.
Tickets to the Anne Frank House are only available online, as they are always heavily oversubscribed, and you have to purchase your ticket for a specific time slot. If you are planning a trip to Amsterdam it’s important you book your Anne Frank tickets as soon as you confirm your plane or train tickets. 80% of tickets are released exactly two months in advance at noon each day, and 20% are released on the day. That’s how hard it is to get in through the door.
Despite the difficulty in acquiring tickets, ticket costs are minimal. The house is open daily throughout the year. To visit, you must be able to climb stairs.
If you’re looking to compile a bucket list full of history, the Buckil site includes a bucket list maker, or you can download the Buckil app, available on iOS and Android, to keep your bucket list on your phone.
