Amsterdam, a city of Tolerance?

27 May 2013

“I know what I want, I have a goal, I have opinions, a religion, and love.”
Anne Frank, 11 April 1944

The only problem with breakfast buffets are that I try to eat so much so that I won’t have to eat later in the day and I make myself sick… Well not really sick, but definitely uncomfortable. Eating just takes so much time…I am lucky I am traveling with people who like to snack like me so that we don’t spend all our time sitting in restaurants. We Eat while we walk and sight-see, much more productive! A famous tradition in Belgium and the Netherlands is to put chocolate sprinkles on your breakfast toast. They not only have little jars of jam for your bread, but little servings of Nutella, honey, peanut butter, and this other graham cracker and cream cheese like topping…all very good, but definitely not very healthy… As I talk about the wonderful times I have been having, I can’t help but feel guilty as I learn about how hard some people have had it. Since I have been traveling around Europe, I have learned stories that have brought tears to my eyes.

Years ago I read a book that both sorrowed and inspired me more than any other text I have ever read. That book was the journal of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who found herself and her family trapped in the reign of the Nazi Germans. I remember crying over the pages of that journal, and thanking my Heavenly Father that I was not put in a situation such as that. Anne Frank is my hero, as I have gleaned more inspiration from her story than I ever have before. Since finishing the book, I knew I wanted to understand more about the Holocaust so that I could properly honor those people who found themselves victims of it’s horror. I read the Hiding Place, watched several documentaries (such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau documentary), and presented several speeches on the reality of what actually occurred. It is important for people to understand what happened, so that history does not repeat itself.

“We cannot change what happened anymore. The only thing we can do is to learn from the past and to realize what discrimination and persecution of innocent people means. I believe that it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight prejudice.”
Otto Frank, 1970

House number 263 in Amsterdam, Holland. The house number of Anne Frank and her family.

Anne Frank’s house.

I knew that when I went to Europe, my time would be spent honoring those who were victims of WWII events such as the holocaust. Europe is host to many WWII memorials, museums, and monuments, that one would be selfish to travel so close to such honorable sites without paying homage. I love history, and I believe it has a lot to teach us. For this reason I knew I wanted to go to Amsterdam so that I could visit the home of Anne Frank, and put into reality the words that I had read in her diary. She lived with 7 others in a hidden series of small rooms above the office building of their friend Victor Kugler. They lived in hiding for 2 years, under strenuous conditions…never being able to go outside, make noise, or even eat and shower in decent conditions. When they were betrayed by an unknown individual, the entire Frank and Pels families were hauled off to concentration camps throughout the region. They all died in these camps, except for Otto Frank, Anne’s father, who took it upon himself to publish Anne’s journals and create a memorial to all those who like her, suffered the pains of the Nazis.

Standing in front of Anne Frank’s home.

As a citizen of the USA in the present-day and a member of a remarkable church and gospel, I am so very blessed. I almost feel undeserving of such a life. People such as Anne, and many many others have suffered things that I have only read about in books. People in circumstances such as I who have been given and blessed with so much, have a duty to help those who are in need. I believe that God put us on earth at a specific time, because we each have a purposeful mission to fulfill. Anne Frank suffered horrible atrocities, and was able to write about them so that millions of people could learn and understand about the power of courage and faith. She fulfilled her mission and gives us the strength to realize that we too can fulfill ours.

In front of the church that stands just outside the door of Anne Frank’s house…the same one she walked by everyday before her and her family went into hiding.

We started in the Office on the ground floor and snaked our way up 3 more floors and through a moving bookcase to the small hidden corridors of the Frank and Pels families. The rooms are left empty besides a few pictures and quotes on the walls and some notes and letters protected under glass. In one of the rooms there is a small furnished model of what the corridors looked like when the families lived in them. The rooms are left empty today because Otto Frank decided that the emptiness and loneliness that was so abundant during those hard years was better portrayed in this way. When we finished walking through all the rooms, we came to an area that housed all of Anne Frank’s journals. At that instance of physically seeing all those words that see had written, and that I had read, I melted. There in front of me was the precious journal of a young girl of 13 years. As I wiped away the tears, Anne Frank’s honor was being stamped in my heart.

Visiting Anne Frank’s home was an incredibly spiritual experience. Waiting in a line for over an hour at the break of dawn has never felt so worth it. Think of the millions of people that have been able to feel that same feeling for the past several years because of Anne Frank’s inspiration to write down her story. Thank you, Anne.

A beautiful canal right outside of Anne Frank’s house.

The hardest thing about backpacking is not having a variety of clothing to wear. As a photographer and want-to-be fashionista, it bugs me that I am wearing the same outfit over and over… I know this is not at all important in the grand scheme of things, but as a shopaholic I had to visit my favorite European store H&M once again and add a little variety to my wardrobe. I bought some fun green pants, a yellow cardigan, a white tee, and a striped shirt. You have no idea how excited I am to have different clothes to wear tomorrow!

…I went shopping at H&M once again. I am sure you will see the yellow cardigan, green pants, and striped shirt I bought show up in future photos.

Anne Frank’s house and my little shopping spree took up most the morning and ended just in time for us to hop on a free walking tour of Amsterdam. The tour lasted a good three hours and I learned so much about the history of the city. Amsterdam gathered its name from the city that arose around the dam that was built on the river Amster. The city was built on a swamp, and even to this day has to be constantly renovated as the ground sinks lower and lower in the murky mush. The highest point in Amsterdam is only 2 meter above sea level. Wow, fancy that!

Amsterdam was thought to be settled by two sailors who happened upon the swampy land that Amsterdam now sits on.

Behind me sits the Red Light district, and ironically also one of the most famous churches in the area…those two don’t really mess well.

This is a part of the street that is sinking into the swampland on which Amsterdam was built. I guess when this happens, and it does frequently, the city just pulls up the bricks and throws some more sand underneath them before placing them back down…

As a city of tolerance, Amsterdam is a place where pretty much anything flies. From the Red Light District to the “Coffee Shops” the police and courts just shut their eyes and walk away, allowing many things to happen that would be forbidden in most other cities. It was interesting to walk through the city and see churches in the middle of the every section of town. The reason being that when the city was first founded it was convenient for people who had sinned just moments before to stumble out their doorsteps and find themselves in front of a church. There they could go in and confess their sins, ridding themselves of all guilt. To me that just seems like an odd mix of religion and crime… but hey it is Amsterdam, where anything flies.

Coffee shops are NOT the same as coffee houses in Amsterdam.

The house of Rembrandt, an 18th century world famous artist.

Who would of known that Amsterdam was the first place to host the first multi-national company! Amsterdam sure is a city of many trades…

First multi-national company, the East India Trading Company.

There are about 15 hidden courtyards throughout Amsterdam that serve as the homes for numerous religious people, mostly nuns. In one of the courtyards we entered, only single women who were over 30 could live there, and the waiting list to do so is gigantic! If you see Hof or Hofje above a random door, that means there is a hidden courtyard behind it.

We walked past beautiful canals, homes, streets, bridges. In such a short walk, I learned a lot about the city and discovered that it really is a place unlike anywhere else in the world for better and for worse. Many controversial things have happened in the streets of this city, as it has changed from a city with no tolerance at the time of Anne Frank to one with complete tolerance as you see it today. This city has a lot of lessons to learn, but it also has a lot it can teach…