“We all looked at the blue sky, the bald chestnut tree with its branches shining small droplets, at the gulls and the other birds that seemed to be silver in their shaving flight. All that moved and took us both so that we could not speak anymore.”
That is what Anne Frank wrote about the chestnut tree in the courtyard on 23 February 1944. This tree was for Anne the only connection with nature, with the seasons, with outside and with freedom in general. The tree was the only thing she could and could see, lying from the attic room in the Secret Annex.
Foundation Support Anne Frank Tree
The foundation Support Anne Frank Tree was established in 2007 to represent the interests of the horse chestnut Anne Frank wrote about in her diary. The tree symbolized life, transience and freedom. The intense bond between man and nature in combination with the atrocities of the Holocaust has given the tree a great emotional charge. In 2010 the immense tree was blown away, but as often happens with trees, a shoot has sprouted next to the remaining trunk. Everything about the entire history of the tree can be found under the heading history .
With the fall of the tree, the initial goal of the foundation no longer applies. But, through the shoot at the tree and the descendants of the tree, the story continues: they carry the message of tolerance, freedom and against racism throughout the world. In order to promote this emphatically, the Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation has transferred its tasks to the Wereldboom Foundation and has itself been dissolved. The Wereldboom Foundation now manages the shoot in cooperation with the land users. A partnership has been established between the Wereldboom Foundation, the Elementree Foundation and Van den Berk Nurseries for raising and spreading the descendants.
How it goes on – Wereldboom Foundation
The dutch Worldtree foundation ( in Dutch language: Wereldboom) is established in 2009. The survival of the descendants and thus the story of the special chestnut tree is now in the hands of the Wereldboom Foundation, which has called in the help of the Elementree Foundation and Van den Berk Nurseries. The Wereldboom Foundation works to make special trees around the world ancient and to use these trees as a connecting factor within a community. The Anne Frank tree is an ultimate example of this, as a result of which the Wereldboom Foundation is the perfect organization to carry out this task. The descendants will therefore be cared for and distributed in a conscientious manner in order to continue the ideas behind the chestnut tree.
More information about the purchase of descendants, memorabilia and even the authentic pieces of the Anne Frank tree can be found in our memorial store .