A wax figure of Jewish girl Anne Frank, the author of the famous diary written in Amsterdam during the Second World War, has been exposed at the Wax Museum “Madame Tussauds’ in Berlin on the 9th March. The figure was based on the last photographs of the famous little diarist which were taken before Anne and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam. The young girl, who is depicted surrounded by her favorite things, should be a figure of hope, not despair, says the museum.
The young girl is depicted surrounded by her favorite things, including magazines about the latest trends in cinema and theater, a copy of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and a hand-sewn dress. “For us, the most important thing was to paint a complete picture,” museum spokeswoman Nina Zerbe told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “We wanted to show Anne Frank in the context in which she lived.”
The exhibit includes a replica of Anne Frank’s famous diary. “She loved studying and planned to return to school,” Zerbe said.
The sixth grade class of the Anne Frank Primary School in Berlin were invited to the official opening on Friday. “We want our visitors, and children in particular, to feel an emotional connection with the figure, rather than to feel that they’re in a history class,” Zerbe said.
Next to Anne, a wax firgure of German student and anti-Nazi activist Sophie Scholl stands on display at Madame Tussauds on December 19, 2008 in Berlin, Germany. Scholl was a student in Munich and member of the “White Rose” anti-Nazi resistance movement when she was caught for distributing anti-Nazi flyers at the university in 1943. Together with her brother Hans Scholl, she was executed days later after a brief trial.
