Key-Visual der Ausstellung "Anne Frank und die Schweiz"

Anne Frank and Switzerland

Exhibition | accessibility.time_to

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Exhibition

The diary of Anne Frank is world famous. It’s less well known that the journey to global publication began in Switzerland. While Anne, her sister and her mother were killed in the concentration camp, Anne’s father was the only family member to survive the Holocaust. Otto Frank moved to live with his sister in Basel in the 1950s. From there, he made it his task to share his daughter’s diary with the world whilst preserving her message on humanity and tolerance for the coming generations.

In collaboration with Anne Frank Fonds, Basel, and Familie Frank Zentrum im Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt

Guided tours

Key-Visual der Ausstellung "Anne Frank und die Schweiz"

Anne Frank and Switzerland

Guided tour for private groups

Guided tour of the exhibition «Anne Frank and Switzerland».

Tour: 1 hour

Registration:  

2 weeks in advance

make a reservation online

Duration:

 

60 minutes; special packages can be offered on request

Group size:
 

 

max. 25 persons per tour

Cost:


 

  CHF 120 for the tour, plus a reduced admission fee of CHF 10 per person.
Free entrance for children up to 16 years.
Opening hours:   Tuesdays - Sundays between 10.00 am – 17.00 pm

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info Contact

+41 41 819 60 11 ForumSchwyz@nationalmuseum.ch

Schools

Key-Visual der Ausstellung "Anne Frank und die Schweiz"

Anne Frank and Switzerland – Introductory tour

Secondary levels I and II

Interactive guided tour of the exhibition «Anne Frank and Switzerland».

Interactive guided tour: 1,5 hours
Guided tours are free of charge for school classes from Switzerland.

Also available as a virtual tour, bookable as follows: every Monday, 08:15 - 16:30 and Tuesday to Friday, 08:15 - 10:30

 

For guided tours and indipendents visits for school groups, please contact us 14 days in advance.

Entrance and guided tours are free of charges for Swiss school classes.
 

To the registration form

accessibility.sr-only.person_card_info Reservations desk

+41 41 819 60 10 forumschwyz@nationalmuseum.ch

Blog articles

Media

Anne Frank and Switzerland

Forum of Swiss History Schwyz | 21.4.2023 - 7.1.2024
published on 20.4.2023

Anne Frank’s diary became a global phenomenon in the wake of the Holocaust. Chronicling 735 days of fear, hunger and the day-to-day routine for eight Jews in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, the diary is now famous throughout the world. However, few people are aware of the extent to which the Frank family and the dissemination of Anne’s diary are associated with Switzerland.

Edith, Margot and Anne Frank, and four other people with whom they’d been in hiding, didn’t make it back from the concentration camps. Only Otto Frank survived, returning from Auschwitz in 1945. As a stateless person he eventually settled in Switzerland, and it was from here that he launched his quest to take the legacy of his daughter Anne to the whole world. Her diaries are a plea for more humanity and tolerance, and they have become part of world literature.

The history of the Frank family is representative of the fate of countless Jewish families during World War II: exodus, flight, deportation, murder. Keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust became increasingly important in the mid-1990s. The exhibition interweaves the flight of Anne Frank’s family to Amsterdam with the lives of her relatives in exile in Basel. The parallel stories of the two branches of the family, and how their lives unfolded during World War II, makes the viewer much more keenly aware of the specific threats to Jews in two small European nations.

The exhibition’s central artefact is the diary of Anne Frank, which is presented in facsimile with displays and exhibits adding further detail to her accounts of life in hiding. It paints a picture of the conditions under which the texts were created, and examines the history of their impact and appeal. Using objects, photos and documents, the exhibition gives a glimpse into the family’s life. Thanks to a partnership with the Anne Frank Fonds Basel and the Familie Frank Zentrum Frankfurt, which holds the family archives, the exhibition presents an authentic narrative and opens up a vista of day-to-day life at a particular point of history, also covering refugee policy and refugee assistance in Switzerland during World War II.


More about the exhibition

Images

Anne Frank

Anne Frank, Amsterdam, 1942

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank’s diary

Replica of Anne Frank’s red and white checked diary, Amsterdam, 1942-1944

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

First edition of Het Achterhuis

Het Achterhuis (“The Annex”), a title chosen by Anne Frank herself

© Swiss National Museum

Anne Frank in the Engadin

Anne Frank spent her summer holidays in the 1930s in Sils Maria in the Engadin.

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank with family

Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam on Merwedeplein, their new home in Amsterdam, 1941

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank’s pyjama case

Pyjama case embroidered by Anne Frank, Amsterdam, 1934-1944

© Swiss National Museum

Yellow star

Yellow star with the word “Jood” (Jew), Amsterdam, May 1942-1945

© Joods Museum Amsterdam

Forbidden for Jews

Three boys stand with their rolled-up towels at the entrance to a swimming pool. Above the gate is a sign saying “Forbidden for Jews”.

© Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Collectie J. Van Rijn

A view of the exhibition

© Swiss National Museum

A view of the exhibition

© Swiss National Museum

A view of the exhibition

A view of the exhibition

© Swiss National Museum

A view of the exhibition

© Swiss National Museum

Press contact Forum of Swiss History Schwyz

+41 41 819 60 18 medien.fsg@nationalmuseum.ch

Exhibition imprint

  • Overall management Denise Tonella
  • Project direction Pia Schubiger
  • Curators Erika Hebeisen, Rebecca Sanders
  • Research associate Marina Amstad, Manda Beck, Thomas Bochet, Noëmi Crain Merz, Aaron Estermann, Selina Stuber, Andreas Zangger
  • Public relations and marketing Karin Freitag-Masa (dir.), Conny Lüönd
  • Cultural Service and Museum Education Isabelle Marcon Lindauer
  • Scenography Ralph Nicotera, Zürich
  • Exibition graphics Thomas Lehmann, LDSGN Zürich
  • Film The Rise of National Socialism Gabriel Heim, Basel
  • Animation and illustration Nino Christen, Maj Dörig, Zürich
  • Exhibition construction Dekorationsbau Felix AG, Durchstarter Werbetechnik GmbH, Otto Hürlimann, Utiger Maler AG, Roland Reichlin
  • Lighting design Marc Hägeli
  • Conservation management Elke Mürau
  • Conservation and mounting of objects Elke Murau (dir.), Anna Jurt, Sarah Longrée, Jürg Mathys
  • Logistics and montage of objects Christian Affentranger, David Blazquez, Simon D’Hollosy, Reto Hegetschweiler, Markus Scherer
  • Loan Services Laura Mosimann, Claudio Stefanutto, Samira Tanner, David von Arx
  • Photography Jörg Brandt
  • Picture library Andrea Kunz, Fabian Müller
  • IT | Web René Vogel, Danilo Rüttimann
  • Media stations Thomas Bucher, Ulrich Heiniger, Pasquale Pollastro, Danilo Rüttimann, René Vogel
  • Translations Marie-Claude Buch-Chalayer, Weil am Rhein, Bill Gilonis, Zürich, Marco Marcacci, Lumino-Monticello, Laurence Neuffer 

Items generously loaned by

  • Alice und Louis Koch-Stiftung, Basel
  • Anne Frank Fonds, Basel
  • Appenzeller Brauchtumsmuseum, Urnäsch
  • Archiv für Zeitgeschichte ETH Zürich
  • Bernard Schüle, Affoltern a. Albis
  • Joods Museum, Amsterdam
  • Familie Frank Zentrum im Jüdischen Museum Frankfurt, Dauerleihgabe des Anne Frank Fonds, Basel, und der Familie Elias-Frank
  • Gedenkstätte Bergen-Belsen, Lohheide
  • Historisches Museum Basel
  • Jüdisches Museum der Schweiz, Basel
  • Kantons- und Universitätsbibliothek, Freiburg
  • Museum Altes Zeughaus, Solothurn
  • Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
  • Stichting tot Behoud van Historische Philips Produkten (SBHP), Eindhoven
  • Fishel Rabinowicz, Locarno
  • Urs Rudolf, Solothurn
  • Verein Museum im Zeughaus, Schaffhausen

Sponsorship of the location Schwyz