For my virtual field trip, I chose to visit Anne Frank’s home, the Secret Annex, during World War II.

I was surprised. The secret annex was multiple floors with multiple bedrooms, but not nearly enough space for the 8 people living there.

The entrance was behind a bookshelf. The first floor had a bedroom for Anne and Fritz. Anne was just a young girl, while Fritz was a man as old as her father. The only issue that had risen between the two was their time spent at the writing desk. The two of them argued who got to use it when and for how long. As well as Anne’s room, there was also a second room on this floor for Otto, Edith, and Margot. Both of these bedrooms had the bathroom conjoining them to the other. Additionally, the first floor had the only bathroom in the annex. Though between 8:30 and 9, they could not use the toilet because select workers were in the building and any noise during that time would raise suspicion.

Up the staircase, there was the room for Hermann and Auguste van Pels. There was also a room for Peter van Pels, but this was in the closet-like room that had the stairs to the third floor running through it.

Through the staircase in Peter’s room, you were lead to the attic. All of the windows in the Annex were blacked out, so no one outside could see in. The attic had the only exception. In the attic, there was the singular window that had not been blacked out, giving them sight to outside. They weren’t necessarily allowed to look, but Anne did anyway. She states, “As long as this still exists, I cannot be sad.”

The Frank and van Pels families as well as Fritz stayed in the secret annex for 2 years. Before there was a tip-off that the building Anne and her family stayed in had fraudulent food-ration cards and illegal employment. They raided the building for those reasons, and just so happened to stumble across Anne and her family.

I really enjoyed the virtual field trip. I learned so much, as you can tell. There was a walk-through tour that had objects you can click on to read more about specific details in the house. I would definitely encourage others to check out this field trip option.

Here is the link: https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/secret-annex/

This is the view just before stepping behind the bookcase and into the secret annex.

Go check it out!!!