NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The Center of Jewish History is hosting a new Anne Frank exhibition presented by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
Located in Chelsea, the exhibit is scheduled to open on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27 and marks the 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
"As we open Anne Frank the Exhibition, we do so in memory of the six million Jews who were murdered, and we do so remembering the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered," Michael Glickman, CEO and founder of JMUSE said.
It is a first-of-its-kind, full-scale recreation of the complete Annex, furnished as it would have been when Anne and her family were forced into hiding.
The exhibition, which runs until April 30, features over 100 original collection items from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam as well as several never-before-exhibited artifacts that help to provide a deeper understanding of what Anne’s life was like.
"People here in the United States can learn about Anne Frank in a new way through this comprehensive exhibition on her life, which includes over 100 artifacts that are rarely, if ever, displayed in Amsterdam," Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House said.
Visitors can immerse themselves in a reconstruction of Anne Frank's room, including her writing desk where she wrote her now-famous diary, the rooms where her parents, sister as well as four others spent two years hiding in an attempt to evade capture by the Netherlands' Nazi German occupiers.
In July 1942, 13-year-old Anne Frank went into hiding in the annex with her parents Otto and Edith, and her 16-year-old sister Margo. They were joined a week later by Hermann and Auguste van Pels and their 15-year-old son, Peter. Fritz Pfeffer moved into the hiding place four months later, also seeking to evade capture.
The families stayed in the annex until 1944 when they were discovered and sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Anne and her sister Margot were then moved to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they both died of typhus in February 1945. Anne was 15.
The exhibition, which is designed for adults as well as children ages 10 and older, will be free for New York Public School students and Title One schools here in the area, in order to give them the opportunity to learn about the past.
"More than 350 schools from all over the country have already secured their tours of the exhibit," Leopold added.
All general admission tickets include the exhibition audio guide. Exhibition times are Sunday through Thursday: 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Friday: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and is closed on Saturday.
Visitors should plan to spend approximately one hour in the exhibition. Tickets are $21 (17 and under, $16) Monday through Friday and $27 (17 and under, $22) on Sunday and holidays. Last entry is one hour before closing. Tickets are available here.
