Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House at Prinsengracht 263-267 in Amsterdam's canal belt preserves the actual hiding place where Anne Frank, her family, and four other Jewish people lived in concealment for over two years during the German occupation of the Netherlands. The self-guided tour passes through the front house, where the business of Otto Frank's spice firm continued to operate as a cover, before entering the Secret Annex through the famous revolving bookcase. Visitors move through the cramped rooms where eight people lived in constant fear of discovery: the bedroom Anne shared with Fritz Pfeffer, the main living room and kitchen, and the attic where the hiders sometimes dared to look outside. Anne's original diary pages are displayed in the museum section, alongside photographs, documents, and video testimonies from people who knew her. The building itself has been kept largely as it was found after the arrest — the family removed furniture to the front house hoping to prevent deportation — so the rooms are empty, their bare walls carrying the only decoration: the height-marks Otto Frank made as his daughters grew, and the film-star pictures Anne pasted on her bedroom wall. The emotional weight of the visit is considerable and tends to affect visitors of all ages and backgrounds. The exhibits contextualise the Frank family's story within the broader history of the Holocaust in the Netherlands, where approximately 75 percent of the Jewish population did not survive. The full route typically takes 60 to 90 minutes. The museum has expanded to include educational programming and rotating temporary exhibitions in adjacent buildings.