Art News

Storm Knocks Down Monumental Tree that Cheered Anne Frank

AMSTERDAM (AP).- The monumental chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain on Monday. The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted through the trunk, snapped about 3 feet (1 meter) above ground and crashed across several gardens. It damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one was injured, a museum spokeswoman said. “Someone yelled, ‘It’s falling. The tree is falling,’ and then you heard it go down,” said museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart. “Luckily no one was hurt.” A global campaign to save the chestnut, widely known as The Anne Frank Tree, was launched in 2007 after city officials deemed