About This Location
Stand by the canal on Prinsengracht and look at the narrow housefronts. It is almost unsettling how ordinary this place appears from the outside - and that ordinary look is exactly what made it possible for people to hide here, in the middle of a busy city. The Anne Frank House is located at Prinsengracht 263 to 267, with the museum entrance around the corner at Westermarkt 20. This building once held Otto Frank’s company offices in the front section, with storage rooms and a hidden rear building behind. In July 1942, the Frank family went into hiding here, joined by the Van Pels family, and later by Fritz Pfeffer - eight people in total, living out of sight for more than two years. Now picture the most famous detail in the house: the entrance to the Secret Annex concealed behind a hinged bookcase. Look for it when you go inside. Otto Frank’s helper Johan Voskuijl built that bookcase in August 1942 to hide the doorway in plain sight. As the route leads upward, notice how quickly the space tightens. Steep stairs, low ceilings, close walls - everything about the building makes the hiding place feel vulnerable. During the day, the people in hiding had to keep quiet while work continued downstairs, relying on trusted helpers for food, news, and basic survival. Listen for the city outside. From the annex, the sound of the Westertoren carried across the neighborhood, marking time every quarter hour - a normal city sound that became a reminder that life continued beyond the hidden rooms. One more detail changes how many visitors experience this place: the annex is intentionally left empty. When the house became a museum, Otto Frank wanted the Secret Annex kept bare, so the absence itself tells part of the story. The Anne Frank House opened as a museum on 3 May 1960.