A bookcase as a secret door | Anne Frank House | Secret Annex

In the summer of 1942, the Nazis threatened to carry out house searches if the Dutch continued to refuse to hand in their bicycles. Bicycles were valuable assets in wartime, which is why the Nazis wanted them. If the front of the building on the Prinsengracht was ever searched, the people in hiding would very likely be discovered. It therefore became necessary to protect the hiding place better, and helper Johan Voskuijl built a revolving bookcase. This video shows how the secret entrance worked.
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Everything about Anne Frank: her life, her diary, and the Secret Annex.

About the Anne Frank House
The Anne Frank House was established on 3 May 1957 in cooperation with Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father. We are an independent non-profit organisation that runs a museum in the house where Anne Frank went into hiding and we try to increase awareness of Anne’s life story all over the world, encouraging people to reflect on the dangers of antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, and the importance of freedom, equal rights, and democracy.