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Su, 29.10.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Family Day

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Opening times

Museum, boutique and bistro

Tu – We 10:00 - 17:00

Th 10:00 - 19:00

Fr – Su 10:00 - 17:00

Library

Tu – We, Fr 10:00 - 18:00

Th 10:00 - 19:00

Sa – Mo closed

Special opening times

Mo, 19.12.2022 closed

Tu, 20.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

We, 21.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

Th, 22.12.2022 10:00 - 19:00

Fr, 23.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

Sa, 24.12.2022 10:00 - 14:00, Christmas Eve

Su, 25.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00, Christmas

Mo, 26.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00, St. Stephen´s Day

Tu, 27.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

We, 28.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

Th, 29.12.2022 10:00 - 19:00

Fr, 30.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

Sa, 31.12.2022 10:00 - 17:00

Su, 1.1.2023 10:00 - 17:00, New Year´s Day

Mo, 2.1.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Saint Berchtold

Fr, 7.4.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Good Friday

Su, 9.4.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Easter

Mo, 10.4.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Easter Monday

Mo, 17.4.2023 closed, Sechseläuten

Mo, 1.5.2023 closed, Labour Day

Su, 21.5.2023 10:00 - 17:00, International Museum Day

Th, 18.5.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Ascension Day

Su, 28.5.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Whitsun

Mo, 29.5.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Whit Monday

Tu, 1.8.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Swiss National Holiday

Sa, 2.9.2023 18:00 - 23:59, Late Night at Zurich’s Museums

Su, 3.9.2023 00:00 - 02:00, Late Night at Zurich’s Museums

Mo, 11.9.2023 closed, Knabenschiessen

Su, 29.10.2023 10:00 - 17:00, Family Day

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Anne Frank and Switzerland

National Museum Zurich | 9.6.2022 - 6.11.2022
published on 8.6.2022

Anne Frank’s diary became a global phenomenon in the wake of the Holocaust. Chronicling 735 days of fear, hunger and the day-to-day routine for eight Jews in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, the diary is now famous throughout the world. However, few people are aware of the extent to which the Frank family and the dissemination of Anne’s diary are associated with Switzerland.

Edith, Margot and Anne Frank, and four other people with whom they’d been in hiding, didn’t make it back from the concentration camps. Only Otto Frank survived, returning from Auschwitz in 1945. As a stateless person he eventually settled in Switzerland, and it was from here that he launched his quest to take the legacy of his daughter Anne to the whole world. Her diaries are a plea for more humanity and tolerance, and they have become part of world literature.

The history of the Frank family is representative of the fate of countless Jewish families during World War II: exodus, flight, deportation, murder. Keeping alive the memory of the Holocaust became increasingly important in the mid-1990s. The exhibition interweaves the flight of Anne Frank’s family to Amsterdam with the lives of her relatives in exile in Basel. The parallel stories of the two branches of the family, and how their lives unfolded during World War II, makes the viewer much more keenly aware of the specific threats to Jews in two small European nations.

The exhibition’s central artefact is the diary of Anne Frank, which is presented in facsimile with displays and exhibits adding further detail to her accounts of life in hiding. It paints a picture of the conditions under which the texts were created, and examines the history of their impact and appeal. Using objects, photos and documents, the exhibition gives a glimpse into the family’s life. Thanks to a partnership with the Anne Frank Fonds Basel and the Familie Frank Zentrum Frankfurt, which holds the family archives, the exhibition presents an authentic narrative and opens up a vista of day-to-day life at a particular point of history, also covering refugee policy and refugee assistance in Switzerland during World War II.

Documents

Images

Anne Frank | © © Anne Frank Fonds Basel
Anne Frank

Anne Frank, Amsterdam, 1942

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank’s diary | © © Anne Frank Fonds Basel
Anne Frank’s diary

Replica of Anne Frank’s red and white checked diary, Amsterdam, 1942-1944

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

First edition of Het Achterhuis | © © Swiss National Museum
First edition of Het Achterhuis

Het Achterhuis (“The Annex”), a title chosen by Anne Frank herself

© Swiss National Museum

Anne Frank in the Engadin | © © Anne Frank Fonds Basel
Anne Frank in the Engadin

Anne Frank spent her summer holidays in the 1930s in Sils Maria in the Engadin.

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank with family | © © Anne Frank Fonds Basel
Anne Frank with family

Anne Frank and her family in Amsterdam on Merwedeplein, their new home in Amsterdam, 1941

© Anne Frank Fonds Basel

Anne Frank’s pyjama case | © © Swiss National Museum
Anne Frank’s pyjama case

Pyjama case embroidered by Anne Frank, Amsterdam, 1934-1944

© Swiss National Museum

Yellow star | © © Joods Museum Amsterdam
Yellow star

Yellow star with the word “Jood” (Jew), Amsterdam, May 1942-1945

© Joods Museum Amsterdam

Forbidden for Jews | © © Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Collectie J. Van Rijn
Forbidden for Jews

Three boys stand with their rolled-up towels at the entrance to a swimming pool. Above the gate is a sign saying “Forbidden for Jews”.

© Stadsarchief Rotterdam, Collectie J. Van Rijn

Schang Hutter’s “Shoah” | © © Swiss National Museum
Schang Hutter’s “Shoah”

“Shoah”, the steel sculpture by Schang Hutter, 1998

© Swiss National Museum

© © Swiss National Museum

A view of the exhibition.

© Swiss National Museum

© © Swiss National Museum

A view of the exhibition.

© Swiss National Museum

Please note that the downloading and use of images is reserved exclusively for journalists, teachers and other authorised parties. Images are only permitted to be used for the purposes of reporting on exhibitions, provided the captions and reference to copyright are included, or for teaching purposes. Many thanks!

Swiss National Museum press contact

National Museum Zurich
+41 44 218 66 63 medien@nationalmuseum.ch

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