Posted on 08/23/2010 4:54:27 PM PDT by Eleutheria5
AMSTERDAM -The monumental chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain on Monday. The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted through the trunk, snapped about 3 feet (1 meter) above ground and crashed across several gardens. It damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one was injured, a museum spokeswoman said. "Someone yelled, 'It's falling. The tree is falling,' and then you heard it go down," said museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart. "Luckily no one was hurt." A global campaign to save the chestnut, widely known as The Anne Frank Tree, was launched in 2007 after city officials deemed it a safety hazard and ordered it felled. The tree was granted a last-minute reprieve after a battle in court. The 150-year-old tree suffered from fungus and moths that had caused more than half its trunk to rot. Two years ago city workmen encased the trunk in a steel support system to prevent it from falling, but that failed under windy weather Monday. The Netherlands' Trees Institute, one of the most prominent supporters of the preservation project, said it was "unpleasantly surprised" by the news of the tree's fall early Monday afternoon. "On the advice of experts in tree care, it had been calculated that the tree could live several more decades" with the support structure, the institute said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
Hijacking your own thread? Nice.
Very sad that the tree that gave Anne comfort is now gone.
Perhaps emblematic of our times.
Even the trees are distressed by what is happening in our world.
Nothing of this earth will last forever.
Oh that makes me so sad :( Sat under that grand old tree two Springs ago on a blissful memorable family-bonding vacation with little nieces and nephews in tow.
I expect to see pictures of Gazans dancing in the streets.
I was thinking the same thing while reading the article.
Teachable moment at the watercooler...
Jews? in Amsterdam? whoodathunkit? What is hamsterdamn like now? What have the citizens/serfs learned???? Why did they not fight back? So they could become the beacon of the world that they are today? Inquiring minds want to know!!!......
fnckin sad and pathetic.... that tree wanted to die a long time ago...
“Why did they not fight back?”
~~~
For the most part they were not armed as we are,,,
Parts of the USA could not put up much of a fight either...
Yeah, My mom always talked about how the nazis could walk right through poland because all the people had were pitchforks.
My Dad taught me to shoot when I was but four years old,,,
He also taught me Why we have guns,,,
My GranMaw told me about our kin that fought at Mansfield
in 1864,,,
It started to sink in then,,,
The “Cream of the Crop” in Europe died in two world wars,,,
Most of the young men grew up without a Dad to teach them,,,
Many have been on the dole all their lives,,,
They depend on the state for everything,,,
That includes any way to defend themselves...
Thanks Eleutheria5.
I’m reminded of what Horace once wrote.
They’ve already hung the tree in effigy and set fire to it.
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