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Anne Frank tree

Coordinates: 52°22′30.7″N 4°53′4.7″E / 52.375194°N 4.884639°E / 52.375194; 4.884639
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The Anne Frank tree, as seen in 2003

52°22′30.7″N 4°53′4.7″E / 52.375194°N 4.884639°E / 52.375194; 4.884639

The Anne Frank tree (Dutch: Anne Frankboom[1] or, incorrectly, Anne Frank boom[2]) is the horse-chestnut tree in the city center of Amsterdam that was featured in Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank described the tree from The Annexe, the building where she and her family were hiding for the Nazis during the Second World War. The tree is estimated between 150 and 170 years old, and for the past several years it has been battling both a fungus and a moth infestation. The Borough Amsterdam Centrum declared that the tree had to be cut down on November 20, 2007 due to the risk that it could otherwise fall down, but on November 21, 2007 a judge issued a temporary injunction stopping the removal. Second opinion analysis by the Dutch Tree Foundation has shown that there exists no acute danger of collapse. The Foundation & neighbours have developed an alternative plan to save the tree. The Foundation Support Anne Frank Tree now makes an effort to save the tree by building the suggested supporting construction.

Tree

The Anne Frank Tree is a horse-chestnut tree located in a courtyard behind the Anne Frank House at the Prinsengracht. The courtyard is not accessible to the public, and is fully enclosed by rows of houses that face the Prinsengracht to the Northwest, the Westermarkt (and Westerkerk) to the Southwest, the Keizersgracht to the Southeast, and the Leliegracht to the Northeast. The tree is more than 150 years old,[3][4] and weighs approximately 27 tonnes.[4] The tree is a horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) tree, which bears inedible nuts. This species should not be confused with the chestnut (Castanea spp.) tree, which bears edible nuts.

Anne Frank

The tree is mentioned frequently in Anne Frank's diary The Diary of a Young Girl. On February 23, 1944 she writes about the tree:

Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs, from my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind. As long as this exists, I thought, and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts I cannot be unhappy.[5]

Otto Frank, Anne's father, described his thoughts upon reading the diary for the first time in a 1968 speech. He described his surprise at learning of the tree's importance to Anne as follows:

How could I have suspected that it meant so much to Anne to see a patch of blue sky, to observe the gulls during their flight and how important the chestnut tree was to her, as I recall that she never took an interest in nature. But she longed for it during that time when she felt like a caged bird. She only found consolation in thinking about nature. But she had kept such feelings completely to herself.[6]

Interactive project

The Anne Frank Tree is also the name of an interactive project started by the Anne Frank House in 2006, when it was opened by Emma Thompson.[7] Visitors to the museum are able to leave their name and location on a "leaf" of the tree, showing their affinity with Anne Frank.[8] Part of the intended audience of the on-line project are students of the more than 200 schools in the world named after Anne Frank.[7]

Removal and efforts to save the tree

The Anne Frank Tree in 2006.

Concerns about the tree's health date back to at least 1993, when a soil analysis revealed that leakage from a nearby underground domestic fuel tank was endangering the tree's root system. The city of Amsterdam spent €160,000 on a soil sanitation program to save the tree.[6] For the last several years the tree has been attacked by a particularly aggressive fungus (Ganoderma applanatum, or "Artist's Conk") which is rotting the wood and undermining the tree's stability. Additionally, horse-chestnut leaf miner moths have taken to eating away at the tree's leaves, causing them to prematurely turn brown and fall off. [6]

On May 26, 2005, the tree's crown was drastically trimmed after a six-month study by botanists concluded that this was the best way to ensure the tree's stability. However, the disease continued to thrive and a 2006 study estimated that 42% of the wood had become rotten.[9] Some botanists concluded that the tree's death is unavoidable and the owner of the property decided to ask for a permit to cut the tree down in order to eliminate the risk of the huge tree collapsing.

In September, 2007, an appeals panel made two separate decisions: one upholding the right of the tree's owner to have it cut down any time in the next two years, and another granting a request by the country's Trees Institute to investigate the possibility of saving it. Property owner of Keizersgracht 188, adjacent to the building that is now the Anne Frank Museum, Henric Pomes has agreed for the time being to wait for the institute's proposal, due before Jan 1, 2008.

The Borough Amsterdam-Centrum declared on November 13, that it will cut down the tree on November 21, 2007.[10]

The Dutch Tree Foundation (Bomenstichting) has been involved with the tree's removal as early as 2 October 2007.[8] It claimed the tree was healthy enough to cause no danger on 15 November,[11] based upon second opinion analysis by Neville Fay -a famous English expert of ancient trees- and by Frits Gielissen -a Dutch expert from O.B.T.A. De Linde-. On 14 November 2007 a pulling test was banned, but four days later this assessment of the strength of the tree could eventually be conducted. Boom-KCB, an engineering firm specialised in trees,[12] determined that the tree is "storm-proof", and able to sustain itself, eliminating the need for outside interference as it does not pose a danger for the public.[1]

A court hearing involving the Tree Foundation was held the day before the removal.[13] It was decided to stop the removal on 2007-11-21.[14] On that 21st of November, in spite of the ruling by the district court, the Borough and the Anne Frank Foundation held a press conference during which they repeat their claim that there exists “acute danger”. They urge the Mayor of Amsterdam, Mr. Cohen, to proceed to emergency cutting.

On 17 December 2007 The working committee Support Anne Frank Tree presented its alternative plan to preserve the tree (the report has english abstracts & conclusions) which includes a construction that prevents the trunk from breaking down. Some weeks later, the tree-experts from both sides presented a joined evaluation of the tree. Their judgement is that the tree has a life-expectancy of at least 5-15 years. To ensure safety, the supporting construction should be built. In winter the tree is twice as strong enough to withstand storms of wind force 11; in summer the tree can also withstand that storm, but there'd be no safety margin. Earlier reports stated that on site a wind force 10 would be the highest possible, due to the downtown and enclosed environment.

References

Inline
  1. ^ a b Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (2007-11-19). "Bomenstichting test sterkte 'Anne Frankboom'" (in Dutch). nu.nl. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Anne Frank Boom". Anne Frank House. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  3. ^ Fischer, Ulli (2006-03-22). "Amsterdam iepenstad" (in Dutch). Amsterdam.nl. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b Coughlan, Geraldine (10 March 2007). "Anne Frank's tree to be cut down". BBC. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "The Netherlands: Anne Frank's Chestnut Tree to Be Cut Down" (reprint). The Associated Press. 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c "Horse chestnut tree diseased" (Press release). The Anne Frank House. Retrieved 2006-11-17.
  7. ^ a b Anne Frank Foundation (1 February 2006). "Launch 'Anne Frank Tree' and 'Anne Frank Guide'". annefrank.org. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b Tagliabue, John (2007-10-02). ""Letter from Amsterdam: Is Anne Frank's tree in Amsterdam doomed to disappear?"". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Felling request for the Anne Frank tree" (Press release). The Anne Frank House. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
  10. ^ Associated Press (2007-11-13), Anne Frank tree to be cut down Nov. 21, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, retrieved 2007-11-13 Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  11. ^ Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (2007-11-15). "Anne Frankboom kan blijven staan" (in Dutch). nu.nl. Retrieved 2007-11-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Boom-kcb.nl - official website of Boom-KCB
  13. ^ Stevenson, Reed (2007-11-15). "Activists step in to stop felling of Anne Frank tree". Reuters. Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  14. ^ Kreijger, Gilbert (2007-11-20). "Dutch court saves Anne Frank tree from the chop". www.reuters.com (in English). Reuters. Retrieved 2007-11-20. {{cite news}}: External link in |work= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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