Deal made to save Anne Frank tree

Dutch officials and conservationists have reached a deal to save the tree that brought comfort to Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis.

The 150-year-old horse chestnut will be supported by a frame before the summer.

The Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation won a court injunction in November stopping the city of Amsterdam from cutting down the diseased tree.

Officials feared it could topple over and crash into the Anne Frank Museum, which gets a million visitors a year.

Symbolic

The city of Amsterdam, the museum, the tree's owner, the Netherlands' Trees Institute and the Support Anne Frank Tree Foundation agreed on the plan, which was worked out by a team of experts from several countries.

An Amsterdam judge granted the tree a temporary reprieve last year, after the city council ordered it to be chopped down.

Neighbours and supporters argued that, as a symbol of freedom, the tree was worth making extraordinary efforts to preserve.

Even for posterity, grafts have been taken from the chestnut and are being raised in a nursery to replace the old tree if it turns out it cannot be saved again in 15 years' time.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank Tree
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