University of Iowa German Department Launches Major Multifaceted Anne Frank Commemoration Project
On April 29, 2022, a new tree was planted on the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest—a sapling propagated from the immense horse chestnut tree that grew in the courtyard behind the annex where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis for 761 days during World War II. This living symbol of Anne’s spirit and humanitarian message is the 13th Anne Frank Sapling to be planted in the United States. The University of Iowa Pentacrest has long been a space for peaceful protest fighting for a more just world, sentiments that Anne often expressed in her diary.
For Anne, the tree became a friend. There was only one window through which she could see outside from the Amsterdam warehouse where she and her family hid for more than two years. In addition to birds and clouds, the top of the giant chestnut was the only thing visible from the attic window, and Anne wrote about the chestnut’s changing appearance and how much hope it gave her. Dr. Kirsten Kumpf Baele, a University of Iowa faculty member who studies Frank’s writing and that of other young people who endured the Holocaust, applied for the University of Iowa to receive a tree, and learned of the award in early 2020. The tree’s planting had been postponed due to the pandemic. Kumpf Baele and others who have helped to bring it to Iowa believe it will provide a similar reminder of hope and cross-cultural understanding for those who visit it and watch it grow.
Anne Frank’s account of her family’s time in hiding, The Diary of a Young Girl, was originally written in Dutch. Although Anne and her family were found and arrested, and Anne and all her family members other than her father died in Nazi concentration camps, her diary survived. It has since become an icon of world literature, which has been translated and read in more than 70 languages.
The planting of this tree was part of a year of events organized and sponsored by the University of Iowa German Department, aimed at recognizing the power of the written word to provide hope and resiliency in difficult times. Students who seek deeper understanding of Anne Frank and the Holocaust may take regularly scheduled courses presented by the German Department (Anne Frank and Her Story), History Department (Politics/Memory: Holocaust-Genocide-9/11), and the World Languages, Literature, and Culture Division (Holocaust Film and Literature).
The full list of organizational partners for this event shows extensive community involvement. Partners included the Agudas Achim Congregation, The Anne Frank Center USA, IC Speaks, Iowa City Public Library, Iowa Hillel, Iowa Youth Writing Project, Porchlight Literary Center, Prairie Lights Bookstore, University of Iowa Building and Landscape Services Facilities Management, University of Iowa Division of World Languages, Literature and Culture, University of Iowa Department of German, University of Iowa Old Capital Museum, and the University of Iowa School of Social Work. The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Iowa served as hosting unit and sponsor for the planting.
For more information about this remarkable program and its associated events, see: https://uiannefranktree.com/