Anne Frank museum says that diseased tree must be cut down - Haaretz

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Fri., November 23, 2007 Kislev 13, 5768

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		A 150-year-old chestnut tree seen from the house where Anne Frank lived in Amsterdam while hiding from the Nazis during WWII. (Reuters)

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Anne Frank museum says that diseased tree must be cut down

By Reuters

Tags: Anne Frank museum

The Anne Frank museum insists it still wants a diseased chestnut tree cut down for safety reasons, despite a court reprieve over its felling.

An Amsterdam court ruled on Tuesday the city council must work with
conservationists in the coming two months to look into alternatives to the felling of the 150-year-old tree, that had been due to start at dawn on Wednesday.

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Museum director Hans Westra said he would consider asking Amsterdam's mayor to overrule the court and allow the felling to go ahead if new tests confirm the tree is infected with a fungal strain that spreads quickly.

"This is no longer the tree as Anne Frank saw it," he said. "I'm much more in favor of a young tree."

Tests showed only 24 percent of the tree was still healthy.

The teenage diarist, who died in a concentration camp in 1945, looked out on the tree as she hid from the Nazis. It stands in a private garden next to the museum.

Westra told a news conference he expected a record of just over 1 million visitors to Frank's hiding place this year and was concerned about their safety as long as the chestnut remained.

Tree conservationists who sought the injunction against the felling said their stability tests showed the 27-tonne chestnut was still safe and its life could be prolonged by decades by supporting it with steel cables.

Westra rejected that idea and said attaching cables to the museum could endanger the building.

The Jewish teenager drew comfort from the tree as one of the only signs of nature visible from her stuffy hiding place, mentioning it several times in her diary before being betrayed and arrested by the Nazis in 1944.

Council official Els Iping said she was worried the tree could topple over while talks were under way with conservationists.

Iping and Westra said they understood the global attention the tree attracted but condemned frenzied bidding for a chestnut from the tree on auction on eBay. "This is a form of commercialization that I find tasteless," Westra said.

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1.	It had it`s time...it`s done it`s work.	16:06	\|	Avrum	21/11/07

2.	Oh, let them save the tree if they can ....	17:50	\|	Dutch	21/11/07

3.	Cut the tree down,cowed Israel is enough of reminder her fate	18:15	\|	Absolute Sweden	21/11/07

4.	Anne Franks tree	19:06	\|	Michael Curry	21/11/07

5.	Chesnut Tree	19:06	\|	RS	21/11/07

6.	Der Mensch ist dem Menschen ein Wolf	19:06	\|	Teacher	21/11/07

7.	The Solution Is To Cast It In Bronze And...	19:16	\|	Yosemite	21/11/07

8.	I need	19:28	\|	wh	21/11/07

9.	Can it be....	21:11	\|	Leah Vanatta Fisher	21/11/07

10.	Grow another tree out of a chestnut fallen from Anne`s tree	23:08	\|	Benjamina	21/11/07

11.	agree with 7	23:12	\|	doron	21/11/07

12.	Oh come on Absolute Sweden, this is not about	23:13	\|	Benjamina	21/11/07

13.	It has been shedding chesnuts for 150 years	23:15	\|	Outsider	21/11/07

14.	BREAKING NEWS: IT`S ONLY A TREE	23:35	\|	Yishai Kohen	21/11/07

15.	I wish that...	00:24	\|	Edith	22/11/07

16.	Benjamina,,A.Frank is a reminder what happene when you Dutch Jews	00:53	\|	Absolute Sweden	22/11/07

17.	Correction Benjamina...	19:06	\|	Theodore	22/11/07

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