Saturday 3 October 2009

Anne Frank now hiding on YouTube

The only existing film footage of Anne Frank has just been uploaded to YouTube by the Anne Frank House.

According to Social Media source Mashable, the Amsterdam museum is hoping to bring attention to Anne’s story and diaries and reach a new generation who may be unfamiliar with her story.

You can see Anne leaning out of a second-story window as she watches a bride and groom across the road.

The UK Guardian says that the scene dates back to July 22, 1941, and was provided to the museum in the 1990s. Evidently, once Anne’s diary became public in the 1950s, the wedding couple recognised Anne in their video, and decided to contact Anne's father, Otto Frank who was the only one to survive the Nazi Holocaust.

It is understood this is the only time Anne Frank has ever been captured on film, where the family lived on the second floor, Merwedeplein 37, Amsterdam. However the famous house where they hid during the war for two years and one month, was at Prinsengracht 267.



“The museum has had the footage for some time, and thought YouTube would be a good platform to show the film and the other films about her life," Annemarie Bekker of the Anne Frank House said in releasing the footage. "It’s another way to bring the life of Anne Frank to the attention of younger people, and all people worldwide.”

Although the footage predates Anne’s famous diaries, it's a special moment captured in time that highlights life prior to the Frank family going into hiding.

“The footage is very moving and very unique because these are the only moving images of Anne Frank,” Annemarie Bekker says.

An ambitious project to construct a virtual online house is being developed to explore the building as it was during the war. It will be launched in April 2010.

1 comment:

Steven Nowakowski said...

Magic piece of footage. Thanks Mike.