A full-scale replica of Anne Frank’s Secret Annex is opening in New York City early next year to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Anne Frank House museum announced Wednesday.
For the first time in history, visitors outside the Netherlands will get a chance to walk through an exact recreation of the cramped space where the wartime diarist and seven other people evaded the persecution of Jews in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam lived from July 1942 until their capture on August 4,1944.
“Anne Frank: The Exhibition,” is set to open on Jan. 27 — International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Visitors will gain the opportunity to learn more about the German-born Jewish teenager who died at a concentration camp at 15 and became known around the world as a symbol of resilience and strength.
Anne Frank was only 13 when she went into hiding with her parents and sister. Four other acquaintances later joined the Franks in the now-famous annex, which would house the eight people for just over two years.
The roughly 450-square-foot area — built above an office and famously hidden behind a bookcase — is where the young teenager documented her experiences, fears and hopes as a Jewish teenager growing up during the horrors of the German occupation of the Netherlands.
“The Diary of a Young Girl,” which was published two years after her death, would later become one of the world’s most widely read and translated books, with more than 30 million copies sold.
“Anne Frank’s words resonate and inspire today, a voice we carry to all corners of the world, nearly eight decades later,” Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House, said in a statement. “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.”
The first-of-its-kind exhibition, presented by the Center for Jewish History, contextualize the short and impactful life of one of the world’s best-known diarists and most memorable victims of the Holocaust, organizers say. That includes her childhood years in Frankfurt, Germany and her family’s move to Amsterdam amid the rise of the Nazi regime.
Besides affording the chance to walk through an exact replica of the Annex, “furnished as it would have been when Anne and her family were forced into hiding,” visitors of Anne Frank: The Exhibition will also see dozens of original artifacts from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and reflect on her legacy through video, sound, photography, and animation.
“As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in January, Anne Frank’s story becomes more urgent than ever,” said Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History. “This exhibition challenges us to confront these dangers head-on and honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust.”
Tickets for “Anne Frank: The Exhibition” are now available online. The installation will run until April 30.