Anne Frank House
The canal house on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam where the Frank family hid during the war, now a museum.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | subject | The emotional end of the Amsterdam chapter, and a complaint that the Dutch helpers go unmentioned. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
Afterward I strolled on to the Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht. It was packed with visitors, but moving nonetheless.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Chapter 8, on his last morning, after the Rijksmuseum (where “The Night Watch” had been removed after a knife attack). He describes the eight people hidden for three years “in a secret apartment above Mr. Frank’s spice business” and the endless line of visitors filing past the bookcase that hid the entrance. He regrets that the museum gives “not even a passing mention” to the Dutch who helped, naming Miep Gies, who found food for eight people every day for three years.
- Why it matters: It’s the most serious moment in a chapter otherwise about hotels, hash and graffiti. His point, that the house tells the horror but leaves out the helpers’ courage, depends on this specific museum.