Anne Frank Foundation

The Anne Frank Foundation (Anne Frank Stichting) is a foundation in the Netherlands originally established to maintain the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. This foundation also advocates the fight against antisemitism and racism and publishes the Dutch annual Monitor Racisme en Extreem-rechts (Racism and Extreme Right Monitor), in which the activities of present-day racists and extreme rightists are studied.

Outside the Netherlands, the Anne Frank Foundation organizes expositions and information on Anne Frank.

The Anne Frank Stichting was founded on 3 May 1957 to prevent the tearing down of the house in Amsterdam in which Anne Frank was hidden since 1942 during the German occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War. In 1960 the Anne Frank Huis became a museum.

The director of the foundation was Hans Westra, who retired in 2011 and was followed by Ronald Leopold.

Controversies

 * Professor Arnold Heertje has repeatedly criticized the Anne Frank House in the media. In particular, he reproaches the foundation for "systematically distancing itself further and further from the historical facts of the story of the Jewish girl" - in particular by equating contemporary discrimination against non-Jews with the persecution of the Jews by using Anne Frank's name so emphatically - and that the foundation's activities "no longer have anything to do with the persecution of the Jews, but serve as food for commercial activities".
 * There is also criticism of researcher Willem Wagenaar of the Anne Frank House, who often appears in the media to explain new studies on the extreme or radical right. Wagenaar was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for his role in the attack in Kedichem in 1986 on a political meeting in which a woman lost her leg.