Amsterdam - A court in Amsterdam ruled Tuesday evening that the so-called Anne Frank tree will not be felled for the time being. The chestnut in the garden opposite the Achterhuis where the young Jewish girl hid during World War II is reckoned to be between 150 and 170 years old - one of the oldest trees in Amsterdam.
Anne Frank described the tree in her famous diary which she penned while hiding in the Achterhuis with her family and four other Jews were during World War II.
A group of private citizens and the Bomenstichting tree foundation had requested the court to order a stop to the cutting until further investigations had established whether this was really necessary.
The tree is private property, but the city of Amsterdam ordered it to be felled in the interests of public safety. It has long been in poor health and several attempts to revive it have failed. Last March the city gave the owner licence to cut it down.
The Anne Frank Foundation, which maintains the former Achterhuis as a museum, has adopted a neutral stance.
A spokesman said Tuesday that although it regrets the tree has to be cut down, it understands public safety comes first - unlike the tree foundation.
This argues that the tree could still be saved and may live for up to another 100 more years. On Monday, it carried out another test to prove the tree is still strong.
The protesters and the Bomenstichting jointly sued the municipality of Amsterdam in a so-called administration court which settles conflicts between citizens and administrative authorities.
A total of eight Jews hid in the Achterhuis between 1942 and 1944 until they were betrayed in August 1944.
The Germans subsequently deported them to concentration camps, where some were killed and others succumbed to starvation and illness.
Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father, was the only survivor. After the war, Miep Gies, who provided the group with basic necessities while in hiding, gave him the diary his youngest daughter Anne wrote during that period.
Following its publication in 1947, the diary of Anne Frank became one of the most famous documents recounting the Nazi persecution of the Jews during World War II. It has been translated into many languages.
