Anne Frank’s Chestnut Tree Gone, New Shoot Will Be Grown

I love those who clip and mail me newspaper stories. Since the ones that get mailed are always related to things that never make the front page of the paper, and always somehow relate to history (or so it seems) it means they are always appreciated.    So with thanks to Marion, one of my clippers, I make note of a piece of history that came to an end last week, but has a new chapter about to start.

A shoot growing from the splintered trunk of a chestnut that cheered Anne Frank during her time in hiding could give the tree a new lease of life after a storm toppled it, a spokeswoman for a group that campaigned to save the tree said Tuesday.

A storm that buffeted Amsterdam on Monday snapped the towering chestnut and sent it crashing to the ground in a garden behind Anne’s secret wartime hideaway.

Helga Fassbinder of the Support Anne Frank Tree foundation said the remains of the trunk will be left in the ground so that a shoot growing out of healthy wood on one side can grow.

She said using an existing shoot on the trunk should provide a swift replacement for the chestnut.

“It grows faster than normal because it benefits from the enormous root system,” she said. The owner of the private garden where the tree stood agrees with the plan.