Few places in Amsterdam come with as much emotional weight, or as much expectation, as the Anne Frank House.
The museum is built around a Secret Annex where the teenage diarist hid from the Nazis for more than two years.
The museum is filled with symbolism and is a place of quiet pilgrimage for many. Its power lies less in the exhibition and more in what it represents: a physical link to a story the world knows intimately.
The museum is one of the city’s most in demand tickets, selling out months in advance. You won’t be able to visit on the fly. You’ll need to pre-book a timed entry ticket well in advance.
Is it worth visiting? In this guide, I share what the museum offers, what it lacks, and why seeing the Secret Annex is so weighty.
Guide To The Anne Frank House
What Is it?
The Anne Frank House is where Anne and her family spent 25 months in hiding during World War II.
On July 6, 1942, the family left their Amsterdam home and disappeared from view. They stepped into a secret world they hoped would keep them safe.
Their hiding place, now known as the Secret Annex, was located behind a moveable bookcase in the back of Otto Frank’s former business.
Inside those cramped rooms, Anne documented daily life, the fear of discovery, and the emotional strain of confinement.
Few things make the horror of the Holocaust feel as shattering as the first hand account of a young girl living through it.
Eight people lived there, including Anne’s parents, her sister Margot, the Van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer. Because the warehouse was directly below, silence was enforced during the day.
Otto’s former employees helped them survive. Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Bep Voskuijl, and Victor Kugler brought food, books, and news from the outside. They risked everything to help the people in hiding.
On August 4, 1944, the group was discovered and arrested. To this day, no one knows for sure who betrayed them.
Quick Tips
Here are some quick tips for visiting the Anne Frank House:
- You’ll need to pre-book a ticket on the museum website up to 6 weeks in advance even if it’s not high season. If you can’t get a ticket, you might consider booking an Anne Frank guided walking tour.
- First thing in the morning or evenings are less crowded.
- No photos allowed (mine are stock or public domain photos).
- Read the latest version of the diary or watch the documentary Anne Frank Remembered before you go.
- Pick up the audio guide when you arrive, which you access by tapping it against the numbered box in each room.
- Your visit will last about an hour.
- Expect to navigate some steep stairs, which are original to the house.
What You’ll See
Introductory Rooms
You’ll begin with a short video and then pass through the introductory rooms on the 1st and 2nd floor. They serve as a contextual foundation for the visit. They are largely empty of any period artifacts.
They guide you through the timeline of events. You’ll learn who Anne was, what led to the Holocaust, and how/why her family went into hiding.
You’ll also learn about Jewish persecution under the Nazis, the rise of Hitler, and the situation in the Netherlands during the occupation.
Maps, photos, and short texts offer a timeline of events that situate Anne’s story in the larger context of World War II.
There are family photographs, video interviews, and bits and pieces that paint a picture of their lives before going into hiding.
Secret Annex
These initial rooms prepare you for the Secret Annex, where the emotional weight of the museum will crash down on you.
The occupants shared one bathroom, which you can see. During the day, they could not flush the toilet because the noise could give them away.
You’ll see the room that doubled as their kitchen and living room. They didn’t live well. During the war, food was rationed and at times they were starving.
By day, silence was enforced. It was a tough way to endure. An existential threat tinged with boredom and fear, with few diversions.
The annex is unfurnished. The rooms are so small, though, that you can barely imagine furniture in them.
Overall, I found the lack of period furnishings a little wanting. But it was Otto’s wish to leave the rooms empty of items the Nazis had seized.
There is a scale model in the final rooms for you to see, which was created in the 1960s.
In the US, the Museum of Jewish History in NYC is exhibiting a full scale replica of the Secret Annex. I think that would help you visualize their confinement and lives a bit better.
Anne’s Room
Anne’s room, like them all, is empty. But you can see photos and newspaper clippings that she pasted to the wall.
Anne avidly collected pictures of art, the royal family, and movie stars. She apparently was a fan of Leonardo da Vinci.
In November 1942, a dentist Fritz Pfeffer joined them. Anne had to share her room with him, which she didn’t find pleasant.
Otto’s Room
Otto, Edith, and Margot slept in this room. You can see pencil lines on the wall where the parents tracked the girls’ height.
This is also where Otto had a map of Normandy with colored pushpins. He used it to track the Allied advance based on BBC radio.
You can also see some of Otto’s books. One is even, rather surprisingly, in English.
The Diaries
Anne wrote three different diaries. The first was written in a red plaid binding, and you’ll see several original pages of her vivid narrative.
She says in her diary: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to do with anyone before, and I hope you will be a great support to me.”
In 1944, Anne began revising this dairy. She wanted its focus to be testifying to Nazi persecution and removed some of the more childish material.
Anne also had a diary with stories and one with beautiful sentences, which are on display.
Her father Otto never knew about the full extent and detail of Anne’s diaries. Miep Gies gave them to him when he returned from Auschwitz seeking information about his daughters after the war.
Otto wanted to make Anne’s diary available worldwide, as a warning and affirmation of the human spirit. When the diaries were published, they became an immediate best seller. And even inspired a popular play and a Hollywood movie.
Aftermath
On August 4, 1944, a German policemen and several Nazis entered the building and went straight up to the bookcase entrance.
Otto and his wife Edith were escorted out at gunpoint and sent to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister Margot were sent to Bergen-Belsen. The girls died of typhoid in March 1945, just months before the camp was liberated.
One of the most gutting things about the timing is the heartbreaking truth that the Frank family and others in hiding were SO close to being rescued.
In late June 1944, Anne writes about the Allies’ landing in Normandy in her diaries. She’s optimistic that they’ll be saved.
But the Secret Annex was raided on August 4, 1944. If they had held out just a few more months, they might have lived.
The museum does not go into undue graphic or emotional detail about what happened to Anne at Bergen-Belsen: the starvation, the freezing conditions, the overcrowding, the lice, or how much she physically and emotionally deteriorated.
But there is a video from her childhood friend Hannah Goslar, who tried to throw food to Anne. Hannah later described Anne as looking “shrunken” and “miserable.” Anne feared both her parents were dead (though Otto was still alive).
What The Museum Leaves Out
I left the Anne Frank House feeling a little conflicted.
The Secret Annex itself is deeply moving. But the museum’s presentation didn’t quite sit right with me. The storytelling felt sparse.
The museum leaned heavily on a kind of universal optimism and Anne as a moving symbol of victimhood in general. This despite the fact that, except for Otto Frank, everyone was murdered in concentration camps.
Anne is portrayed as this radiant, hopeful child. Her famous line about people being “really good at heart” is even written on the wall.
But that felt off to me. Anne was a teenager in hiding.
Her diary is powerful and intelligent, but she wasn’t some glowing figure of strength. She was scared and hopeful in a very specific, limited way. She believed she might be rescued.
Anne’s writing stops shortly before she was deported to Bergen-Belsen. Her friend Hannah said she had “lost hope.” It’s hard to imagine she still felt radiant.
The truth is starker. Anne was betrayed, arrested, deported, and died in a concentration camp.
If she was able to continue writing, I suspect her words would have been much darker. Elevating a single quote )like her belief that people are “really good at heart”) as the centerpiece of her legacy feels a tad misleading.
I also felt the museum experience was tightly managed and a bit too polished. The museum downplays, ever so slightly, the fact that this is a Jewish story. Anne’s diary is about hiding because she was Jewish.
It’s a Holocaust document, not just a vague call for hope and human resilience in the face of discrimination and extermination. That’s especially important now, with Holocaust denial as a real issue.
I’ve talked to people who don’t even associate Anne with the holocaust or who think she survived because her diary ends before her deportation and death.
Back in 2018, there was even a controversy over this very issue at the museum. A Jewish employee wasn’t allowed to wear a yarmulke while guiding tours. The museum said it wanted to appear “neutral.”
What? This is a place built around the memory of a Jewish girl who was murdered for being Jewish. Trying to strip that away just doesn’t make sense to me, and I’m not Jewish.
Does broadening her story, and coopting her image for other purposes, cheapen it just a bit? You can see why some might feel that way.
I was also surprised to find a complete deficit of any information as to why the Franks had been betrayed. Yes, I know there is no definitive answer.
But I would have liked a brief rundown on the possibilities. I had to look them up myself later.
They are:
- Warehouse Worker Theory – A warehouse employee may have suspected people were hiding and anonymously reported them.
- Criminal Investigation Theory – The raid was part of a broader investigation into ration coupon fraud, and the arrest was incidental.
- Betrayal by Informant – Someone who knew of the hiding place, possibly a neighbor or acquaintance, deliberately informed the Nazis. This has been theorized to be Nelly Voskuijl, who sympathized with the Nazis and likely knew of the Secret Annex.
- Notary Theory (recent, controversial) – A Jewish notary named Arnold van den Bergh may have provided addresses under duress, including that of the annex.
That omission feels significant to me, especially because it sidesteps a larger conversation about Dutch complicity. The Netherlands often highlights the bravery of the resistance.
But the truth is that only a very small percentage of Dutch citizens were actually involved in it. Anne knew that. That’s why she had “survivor’s guilt” about being relatively safe in the annex, unlike other Jews.
Lastly, there is no disclosure that Otto heavily edited Anne’s diaries before publication in 1947. When they came out, he deleted Anne’s words criticizing her mother, discussing conflicts among those in hiding, and Anne’s more rebellious and sexual context.
This means that Otto shaped her image posthumously. Probably trying to protect her legacy, he idealized, softened, and depersonalized her writing.
Anne’s original text was, thankfully, restored in later editions. If you have a book published after 1991, it reflects Anne’s full personality.
In sum, the museum may be more sacred space than interpretive museum. It leaves complex and controversial aspects out in favor of a curated narrative. Yet, the struggles and pains of the war years are undoubtedly laid bare …
Is The Anne Frank House Right For Everyone?
The museum hold a deeply symbolic importance. Walking through the steps where Anne’s family hid is an emotional experience.
Still, the experience itself may not match the gravity people associate with it. The museum is a bit clinical in its presentation, and doesn’t give you the usual museum analysis.
It’s definitely worth visiting, to be sure. It’s a portal into history — a memorial, a lesson, and a site that makes you reflect.
But you’ll want to know what to expect to avoid disappointment. Which is hopefully why you’re reading this article!
Tips For Visiting The Anne Frank House
Address & Tram: Prinsengracht 263–267, 1016 GV Amsterdam. Tram Line 13 or 17. Get off at Westermarkt.
No Photo Policy:
I usually detest no photo policies because they serve no real purpose. But, here, I think it’s the ban is not only appropriate, but essential.
Yes, everyone wants to take a photo to remember, to share, and to prove they were there. But in practice, it often wrecks the experience.
Not just for the person snapping the picture, but for everyone else crowded in around them. The museum bottlenecks are already bad enough. This would make them worse.
The mood is also just so delicate inside. Imagine someone taking a grinning selfie in the Secret Annex.
It’s unthinkable. But you know someone would if it was allowed.
Even seeing people taking smiley photos in front of the Anne Frank House sign on the side entrance feels … extra. Understandable, maybe, but still jarring to me.
Tickets:
Tickets are only available through the museum website, no third party vendors. Tickets are NOT sold onsite at the museum any longer. So, don’t expect to queue up to get one.
Tickets are released for sale every Tuesday at 10:00 am CET. All tickets become available for a visit six weeks later.
When purchasing your ticket, you’ll get a timed entry. You must enter within 15 minutes of that designated time You’ll have to check all backpacks in the coat room.
Hours:
The museum is open daily from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm.
Renovation:
Right now, the museum is being renovated. The entire facade is covered with scaffolding. But the interior exhibits, including the preserved Secret Annex, continue to be accessible.
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