Former home of the Frank family - Amsterdam

Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who is a worldwide symbol of the victims of the Holocaust, received a statue on Merwedeplein in 1994. Before she had to flee to the hiding place on Prinsengracht, she lived here with her parents and sister at Merwedeplein 37-II. She lived here for almost ten years, from 1934 to 6 July 1942. This 6 July was the day she looked back at her parental home one last time, never to see it again. The statue at Merwedeplein aptly depicts this event. Her facial expression is hopeful.

The statue was made by Ms Jet Schepp, with the intention of placing it at Merwedeplein. The municipality of Amsterdam initially did not feel up to it, so the statue was placed in Purmerend in 1996. On the initiative of an Amsterdam bookshop, a petition was launched in 2004 to have such a statue of Anne Frank placed on Merwedeplein after all. A version of the statue, which was unveiled by then-mayor Job Cohen, was placed at this spot after all in 2005.

The text on the pedestal reads:
'ANNE FRANK
1929 - 1945.'