Teenage diarist Anne Frank has been considered as a symbol of humanity amidst the Holocaust but the house where she hid from the Nazis is reportedly now teaching the new generation about anti-semitism.
The museum in Amsterdam unveiled a fresh look of Frank's house on Thursday, November 22 to make this more relevant to the younger generation who may have lack knowledge about World War II.
Dutch King Willem Alexander was the guest of honor as the museum built a secret annex in the canalside house where the family of Anne Frank hid from 1942 to 1944 and showed the "new appearance."
"Every year 1.2 million people visit the Anne Frank House and half of those visitors are under the age of 30, so we have a very young audience," museum executive director Roland Leopold told AFP. "Interest in the war and the story of Anne Frank is rather increasing than decreasing, but the knowledge is about it is definitely less... We need to provide more context and background to the story of Anne."
The improvement of the house includes audio guides concentrating on the historical context and exhibits showing more of the march of hate from 1933 when the Franks moved from Frankfurt to Amsterdam.
"We really want to encourage the new generation to visit the Anne Frank House," managing director Garance Reus-Deelder said.
"Anne Frank was born in a democracy in 1929, and she died 15 years later in one of the greatest atrocities that the world has ever known, and this is as quickly as things can change," Reus-Deelder said.
"That is one of the lessons that we would hope young people take away from this museum: what is their role, to make sure that this never happens again and our society remains as free and democratic as it is now."
