Images of chestnut tree - the official Anne Frank House website

"Our chestnut tree is in full blossom"

Anne Frank about the chestnut tree behind the hiding place

Outdoor shot of the horse chestnut tree (on the right) with the Secret Annex, followed by a view from the attic window of the Secret Annex. From this window Anne Frank often looked at the tree. She mentioned the chestnut tree three times in her diary.

Quotes from the Diary

23 February 1944
The two of us looked out at the blue sky, the bare chestnut tree glistening with dew, the seagulls and other birds glinting with silver as they swooped through the air, and we were so moved and entranced that we couldn’t speak.

18 April 1944
April is glorious, not too hot and not too cold, with occasional light showers. Our chestnut tree is in leaf, and here and there you can already see a few small blossoms.

13 May 1944
Our chestnut tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year.

Otto Frank

In a speech he gave in 1968 Otto Frank recounted the thoughts that came to his mind when he read Anne’s diary for the first time:
How could I have suspected that it meant so much to Anne to see a patch of blue sky, to observe the gulls during their flight and how important the chestnut tree was to her, as I recall that she never took an interest in nature. But she longed for it during that time when she felt like a caged bird. She only found consolation in thinking about nature. But she had kept such feelings completely to herself.