Anne Frank-Fonds

2007: Events and Activities

Once again the ANNE FRANK-Fonds looks back on a busy year. In the process of work professionalisation, AFF initiated and implemented many new projects. Below is a brief summary of the most important activities.

Grants
In 2007 the grant budget was exhausted to the full extent.

Recipients of grants included the ANNE FRANK-Medical Fund; the Institute of German-Jewish Studies at the University of Essex; the City of Bergen; the Basel K5 learning centre «Lernen im Park»; the Anne Frank Jugendbegegnungsstätte in Frankfurt, AMCHA (National Israeli Center for Psychosocial Support of Survivors of the Holocaust and the Second Generation), Jerusalem; the Verein Medienfalle Basel, MIDBAR (Schweizerische Gesellschaft zur Belebung von Wüstengebieten); the Schweizerische Beobachtungsstelle für Asyl- und Ausländerrecht; Suela VIZION, Albania; the Foundation Usthi, Jona; the Verein Jugendclub Courage, Cologne; as well as the Anne Frank-Societies in Amsterdam, London and Berlin; the list names just some of the larger recipients.

Finances
The annual financial statement 2007 was drawn up by the external accounting office and controlled and endorsed by the auditing company Deloitte AG Basel. The foundation board approved the statement in its meeting of June 2008.

Organisational matters
The foundation board member Peter M. Loewe retired from the board as of 31 December 2007.

Project «Archive»
Under the lead of board member Christoph Knoch and with the active support of the historian and archivist Dr. Peter Toebak the joint archive project between AFF and AFS in Amsterdam is making good headway. In the context of the deposit of the archival material of AFF and the family Elias, which up to now was lodged in Basel, the project «ANNE FRANK-Archive in the Anne Frank-House» was presented to the general public in Amsterdam in June 2007.

In the context of the Dutch project «Metamorfoze» approximately 120,000 pages of photographs and documents were digitalized and saved to a digital archive where they are now accessible for research purposes.

At the same time the ANNE FRANK-Fonds established the Margot-Frank-Archiv-Scholarship that gives young researchers the opportunity to use the archive in Amsterdam.

Project «Anne Frank-Rose»
A plaque was erected next to the «Anne Frank-Rose» in the Botanical Garden Brüglingen.

Project «Internet»
After several years in service the AFF website was newly designed and updated to the present standard of web publishing (use of Content Management System).

Project «BBC Docudrama»
In cooperation with Darlow Smithson Productions, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is producing a TV-docudrama under the title «The Diary of Anne Frank». The five, 30-minute episodes are to be shown in the UK and other European countries in 2008.

Miscellaneous
In October 2007, board member P. M. Loewe and H. Westra of AFS took part in the official opening of the new documentation centre at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial, where the Anne-Frank-Platz forms the entrance square.

In the course of the year, AFF President Buddy Elias again visited many schools in Germany and Switzerland to give lectures on the significance of Anne Frank and the fate of her family. In the context of these lectures, the issues of racism, the Holocaust and anti-Semitism are regularly addressed.

On 30 July 2007 the first ANNE FRANK-Award Against Racism and Xenophobia was presented to Fabienne Louves by the AFF President on the Bundesplatz in Bern. The award is meant for young men and women who have committed themselves in the struggle against racism and xenophobia in Switzerland.

ANNUAL REPORT 2007