The Political Significance of Anne Frank. On Crossing Boundaries and Defining Them

Summary

The cutting down of distinctive trees often ignites passionate communal protest, but it rarely occurs that such protests make international headlines. That, however, was the case in September 2007 when the cutting down of a 150-year-old diseased chestnut tree was due. But this was not an ordinary distinctive tree; this was the very same chestnut that had been seen by Anne Frank from the attic window of her hideout during the years of the Second World War. She even dedicated a few lines to it in her famous diary:

From my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops glisten like silver, and the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind.

The so-called “Anne Frank Tree” was supposed to be cut down because a grave illness had weakened it and it therefore posed a hazard to neighboring houses. While news crews from all over the world eagerly awaited the anticipated spectacle of chainsaws hitting a living relic of Anne Frank's years in hiding, a Dutch judge decided however that cutting down the tree had to be postponed for a number of months to make it possible to search for alternative solutions that could preserve the tree. In the end, it was decided to rescue the tree by building an iron construction around it so that it may stand for another five to fifteen years, even if most of it will consist of dead wood by then.

The worldwide coverage of the tree has been going on ever since it was clear that the tree has a fatal disease. In 2006, the Anne Frank Foundation made use of the tree's popularity and launched a six-language website that represents a virtual Anne Frank tree. Any visitor to the Anne Frank House, as well as any visitor to the website, can leave a virtual leaf on the site with a message inspired by Anne Frank. Each of the two hundred “Anne Frank” schools may even add a virtual chestnut. Leaves and chestnuts may be made up of texts in any language, but also of drawings or photographs. The idea was that all these leaves together will create a huge virtual tree that cannot die and never needs to be cut down.