Anne Frank Sapling Cut Down, Stolen in Germany

A sapling that came from the tree that stood outside the hiding place of Anne Frank in Amsterdam was cut down and stolen in Frankfurt, German police  said.

Unidentified parties cut down the 8-foot tree outside the Anne Frank School sometime between last week and Monday, according to a report Tuesday by the Dutch public broadcaster NOS. Police have no information or leads on the identity of the thieves or their motives, the report said.

The cutting was planted in 2008 outside the school named for the Jewish teenage diarist who was born in Frankfurt in 1929. Anne was killed in 1945 during the Holocaust after her family was caught hiding in the Nazi-occupied Dutch capital, where they had moved to escape persecution in Germany.

“It was, obviously, more than just a tree for us,” a spokesperson for Frankfurt’s Anne Frank School told NOS. “We grew it with the help of a landscape architect and with the loving care of several classes.”

The tree is not easily replaceable, as the original chestnut tree that stood outside Anne’s hiding place, and which is featured in her diary, was cut down in 2010 following a storm.