Amsterdam (Rough Guide) - Martin Dunford [40]
In 1944, the atmosphere was optimistic; the Allies were clearly winning the war and liberation seemed within reach – but it wasn’t to be. One day in the summer of that year, the Franks were betrayed by a Dutch collaborator; the Gestapo arrived and forced open the bookcase. The occupants of the Secret Annex were arrested and dispatched to Westerbork – the transit camp in the north of the country where all Dutch Jews were processed before being moved to Belsen or Auschwitz. Of the eight from the Annex, only Otto Frank survived; Anne and her sister died of typhus within a short time of each other in Belsen, just one week before the German surrender.
Anne Frank’s diary was among the few things left behind in the Annex after the Gestapo raid. It was retrieved by one of the family’s Dutch helpers and handed to Otto on his return from Auschwitz. In 1947, Otto decided to publish his daughter’s diary; since then, it has been translated into over sixty languages and sold literally millions of copies. Otto Frank died in 1980 at the age of 91; the identity of the collaborator who betrayed his family has never been confirmed.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel west |
The Westerkerk
Trapped in the achterhuis, Anne Frank liked to listen to the bells of the Westerkerk (Mon–Sat: April–Sept 10am–5.30pm; Oct 11am–4pm; free; www.westerkerk.nl), until they were taken away to be melted down for the German war effort. The church still dominates the district, its 85-metre tower (same hours; €5) – without question Amsterdam’s finest – soaring graciously above its surroundings and offering panoramic views of the city centre from its balconies. On its top perches the crown of the Emperor Maximilian, a constantly recurring symbol of Amsterdam (see "St Nicolaaskerk") and the finishing touch to what was then only the second city church to be built expressly for the Protestants. The church was designed by Hendrick de Keyser and completed ten years after his death in 1631. Its construction was part of the general enlargement of the city, but whereas the exterior is all studied elegance, the interior – as required by the Calvinist congregation – is bare and plain. Apart from the soaring stone columns and long windows, which allow the light to pour in, the only feature of note is the fancy wooden pulpit, where Protestant ministers once thundered away.
The Westerkerk was also the last resting place of Rembrandt, though the location of his pauper’s tomb is not known. Instead, a small memorial in the north aisle commemorates the artist, close to the spot where his son Titus was buried. Rembrandt adored his son – as evidenced by numerous portraits – and the boy’s death dealt a final crushing blow to the ageing and embittered artist, who died just over a year later. During renovation of the church in the early 1990s, bones were unearthed that could have been those of Rembrandt – a possibility whose tourist potential excited the church authorities no end. Admittedly it was a long shot – paupers’ tombs were usually cleared of their accumulated bodies every twenty years or so – but the obvious way to prove it was through a chemical analysis of the bones’ lead content, expected to be unusually high if they were his, as lead was a major ingredient of paint. The bones were duly taken to the University of Groningen for analysis, but the tests proved inconclusive.
The Grachtengordel | Grachtengordel west |
Westermarkt
Westermarkt, an open square in the shadow of the Westerkerk, contains two evocative statues. Just to the south of the church entrance, by Prinsengracht, is a small, poignant statue of Anne Frank by the gifted Dutch sculptor Mari Andriessen (1897–1979), also the creator of the Dokwerker (Dockworker) statue outside Amsterdam’s Esnoga. The second piece, behind the church beside Keizersgracht, consists of three pinkish granite triangles (one each