The Secret Annex, also known as the Achterhuis, was the hiding place where Anne Frank and her family, along with four others, stayed for more than two years during World War II. This secret hiding place was located at the back of her father’s office building, Prinsengracht 263, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Anne Frank’s family went into hiding on July 6, 1942, in order to escape the persecution and deportation of Jews by the Nazis. The decision to go into hiding was made after Anne’s older sister, Margot, received a call-up notice to report to a labor camp. The Frank family, along with the van Pels family (Hermann, Auguste, and their son Peter), and Fritz Pfeffer, a dentist, moved into the concealed rooms above Otto Frank’s business.
The hiding place consisted of several rooms, including a living area, a kitchen, a bathroom, and separate bedrooms. The entrance to the hiding place was concealed behind a movable bookcase, which added an extra layer of secrecy. The windows were covered with blackout curtains to prevent anyone from seeing movement inside. The Annex provided a small sense of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic and dangerous world.
Life in the Annex was far from easy. They had to remain completely silent during the day to avoid detection by the workers in the office below. They relied on a few trusted employees who helped them by providing food and supplies. They had to be very cautious when using water and electricity to avoid arousing suspicion. Despite the challenges, Anne Frank managed to find solace in writing her diary, which would later become one of the most iconic and poignant accounts of the Holocaust.
For more than two years, Anne and the others lived in constant fear of being discovered. Unfortunately, their hiding place was ultimately betrayed, and on August 4, 1944, they were arrested by the Gestapo. They were first taken to a local prison and then transported to concentration camps. Only Anne’s father, Otto Frank, survived the war.
Reflecting on the question of how long Anne Frank was in the wall, it is essential to clarify that Anne and the others were not physically inside a wall as the term might suggest. Instead, they were hidden in concealed rooms located behind a movable bookcase. The term “wall” is often used metaphorically to refer to the hiding place.
Anne Frank spent more than two years in the Secret Annex, the concealed rooms hidden behind a bookcase in her father’s office building. It was within these walls that she wrote her world-famous diary, documenting her thoughts, fears, and hopes during one of the darkest periods in history.