Esnoga & Anne Frank

Two days in Amsterdam, visiting two more sites related to World War II. It seems hard to get away from it in Amsterdam. 

First, the Esnoga, or the Portuguese Synagogue. 

Touro Synagogue is its twin, only 100 years younger, lighter, smaller, and in Newport. 

The Esnoga, built 1675, survived it all. It’s still standing and still an active synagogue. 

The Anne Frank House. 

In the 1930s, some Jews left Frankfurt for America; others went to Amsterdam. Anne and her family left Frankfurt in 1933. The same year that Frieda sailed for America. 

I must have read The Diary when I was 11 or 12, late 1950’s. Today, walking through the front store (called The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam) and climbing into The Annex, where the Franks lived for two years, Anne’s words came back to me.