Anne Frank tree to be felled
The chestnut tree known worldwide as the Anne Frank Tree will be felled on Wednesday 21 November 2007. Tests carried out in September 2007 show that the tree is in such a bad condition that the felling cannot be put off any longer.
The original postponement was to give objectors the time to present a plan to preserve the famous tree for longer. However, the risk of the trunk breaking is so great that, after consultations between the City Council and the owner of the building on the Keizersgracht canal to which the garden and the chestnut tree belong, it was decided that the tree had to be cut down.
The chestnut tree has been diseased for years, and has been examined and maintained by various experts over the last ten years. The crown of the canopy was removed in 2005 to stabilise the tree. The results of the latest tests show that the fungal disease has spread to such an extent that over 70% of the trunk is already affected. Because of this, the risk of the trunk breaking is unacceptably high.
Online
The tree stands in a walled courtyard garden between the Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht canals. First the large branches will be removed, then the trunk and the roots. A crane on the Westermarkt square will lift the sawn wood over the rooftops. The felling can be followed online on this website.
Memory
The Anne Frank House has received many reactions from the Netherlands and abroad since it was announced that the chestnut tree that Anne Frank wrote of in her diary must be cut down. This worldwide show of concern has been very gratifying to the Anne Frank House organisation. After the felling, a graft from the original tree will be put in its place. In this way the tree, which is so closely connected with the memory of Anne Frank, will live on.
More information
Ton Boon, spokesmen for city district Amsterdam - Centre
E: tboon@centrum.amsterdam.nl
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