Some of you may have heard of Anne Frank and the diary she kept during the time she was in hiding in a flat in Amsterdam [Netherlands] during World War II. But who was Anne Frank and how did she become famous?
Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929 in a Jewish family and was known as Annelies Marie Frank. She and her family fled from the Nazis to the Netherlands in 1933, and after the German occupation of that country in World War II hid with her family in the attic of an Amsterdam house for two years before the Nazis discovered them and packed them off to various concentration camps in Germany. She died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, within days of the death of her sister Margot Frank.

The lively, moving diary Anne Frank kept during her confinement in Amsterdam was found after the war and later published as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has been translated into many languages, and has been the basis for several plays and films. The diary has become an icon of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust - the attempt by Nazi Germany to systematically destroy European Jews, who were herded into concentration camps and slave labour camps. By the end of the second World War in 1945, an estimated six million Jews had been exterminated.

150-year-old tree

A 150-year-old horse chestnut tree in the city centre of Amsterdam that brought comfort to Anne Frank while she was in hiding was featured in her diary; she described how she would, from her hideaway, gaze at the tree and the sky and birds above it, saying it brought her happiness. For some years now, the tree has been battling both a fungus and a moth infestation.

The city of Amsterdam had planned to cut down the chestnut tree. However, conservationists and Dutch officials have now reached an agreement on the measures to be taken to preserve the historic tree. Before the end of May 2008, a metal supporting structure will be built around the tree; in this way, the tree can remain standing for another five to ten years. The Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation is responsible for carrying out the conservation measures.

Architects, design engineers and tree specialists have created a design for the supporting structure. This flexible construction will hold the trunk in place if it should break or tip over, but it will not be in direct contact with the tree, so its growth will not be impeded.

A long-term plan will be drawn up to monitor the condition and safety of the tree in the years to come. An expert group of tree specialists will offer advice on the measures to be taken for the care of the tree.