AM1•111111111111111•111•1111P TRAVEL 1••••mm"••••• ■•■ Terry Rotenberg and The Staff of Gemini Travel Jane Bergman Shirley Bernstein Ruth !Ka Joani Lesser Jean Levy Wendy Malley Patty Ratliff Phyllis Payson Sharon Reznick Agi Rubin Heidi Rushford Marlene Oleshansky Ginny Winters Want to Wish Our Friends, Our Families and Our Valued Clients A Healthy, Peaceful Joyous and Prosperous New Year Anne Frank House Anne Frank House: An Important Museum CURTIS CASEWIT Special to The Jewish News 4•GEMINI TRAVEL 855.3600 "WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS" Happy New Year From The Staff at PAGE TOYOTA ON TELEGRAPH between 8 & 9 Mile Roads 352-8580 4CA; FRintkv CPPTRAPFP 91 1QC111 A mong Amsterdam's forty museums, none is as touching as the Anne Frank House, at 263 Prinsengracht. You get there easily on foot or by taxi from your hotel. You can also take a glass- covered boat; it stops at other museums as well. The Ann Frank House faces a canal — one of the hundred or so waterways in Amster- dam The narrow building is gabled like others built in the 17th century. But it has in- credibly steep, tight little steps that hint at the Frank family's discomfort. It was here that on July 6, 1942, on the run from the Nazis, Anne Frank and her family began to hide in a tiny annex. It was concealed by a bookcase which is still there, almost 50 years later. Otto Frank gave his daughter her first diary at age 13. The clothbound diary sits in a glass case in the musuem. Her concerns emerge soon enough. "The good times flee rapidly," she wrote. "Jews may not take part in public sports. Swimm- ing, tennis, hockey and other activities are now forbidden. Jews are forbidden to drive and even to ride the train. They must turn in their bicycles." Museum documents show that there was no escape from persecution. The Franks, like so many others, had applied to the American consulate for a visa. "Form #6" indicates that they were on the Curtis Casewit is a writer in Denver. "waiting list." They never heard from the U.S. Consul again. In the meantime, teen-ager Anne adorned her bedroom with photos of pre-war celebrities. The pictures of Ray Milland, Deanna Durbin, a young Simone Simon, a thirtyish Greta Garbo are still pasted on Anne's wall, under low ceilings. There is also a German postcard which reads, "Fur jeden ein bisschen gluk — Fur alle scheint die Sonne —" "For everyone a little luck/For everyone shines the sun —" Ann Frank didn't see daylight during the two years she and her family hid in the annex, the windows were covered with paper, a precau- tion. She learned from another Jewish family what went on outside. "No one is spared," she wrote. "Old peo- ple, babies, expectant mothers, the sick, all must join in the March of death —" The display entries alter- nate with photos of Anne's sensitive, soulful face. Her anguish is clear. "How op- pressive it is never to go out- doors! I'm afraid we shall be discovered and shot," she wrote, adding, "Not a plea- sant prospect." There are still school books in the Secret Annex, which Anne describes as "damp and leaning to one side." The various rooms include a now rusty toilet that couldn't be used in daytime, for fear of discovery. Visitors often stand ten- deep in front of the exhibits, studying the photos, reading the journal extracts. Despite the crowds, there is utterly stunned silence in the museum.