Saplings from Anne Frank’s tree take root in US

Saplings from the chestnut tree that stood as a symbol of hope for Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam are being distributed to 11 locations in the US as part of a project that aims to preserve her legacy and promote tolerance.

The tree, one of the Jewish teenager’s only connections to nature while she hid with her family in a secret annex in her father’s company building, was diseased and rotted through the trunk when wind and heavy rain toppled it in Aug 2010. However, saplings grown from its seeds will be planted starting in April, when the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis will put the first one in the ground.

The 11 US locations, which also include a park memorialising victims of the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City, an Arkansas high school that was the heart of the desegregation battle and Holocaust centres in Michigan and Washington state, were chosen from 34 applicants by The Anne Frank Center USA.