Amsterdam park gets Anne Frank sapling

The ancient chestnut tree that cheered up Jewish teenager Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis is dying, but thanks to a planting campaign now under way its descendants will live on around the globe.

Amsterdam city councilwoman Marijke Vos has planted the first of 150 saplings from the tree that will go into the Amsterdamse Bos park.

Other saplings have gone to several of the 200 schools around the world that are named for Frank, and 11 are headed to the United States, including one that will be planted in the new Holocaust Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.

Other U.S. sites include the White House and the 9/11 memorial in New York.

For Frank, the chestnut tree was a rare connection to nature during the two years her family hid in cramped conditions above a canalside warehouse during the German occupation of the Netherlands. She wrote of the tree’s beauty several times, including in a memorable passage from Feb. 23, 1944.

The massive 150-year-old chestnut is now afflicted with fungus and other diseases. It has been kept alive with an elaborate system of physical supports since last year. It will eventually be replaced with one of several clones that have been taken from it. — ap