Anne Frank Center to be near Ground Zero

Ten years after she witnessed the attack on the World Trade Center, Yvonne Simons plans to return to Ground Zero, bringing with her a message of tolerance in the form of the Anne Frank Center USA.

In time for the anniversary of Sept. 11, the Anne Frank Center is moving from SoHo to the corner of Park Place and Greenwich Street, facing Ground Zero.

Simons, executive director of the not-for-profit center, believes the story of Anne Frank offers a redeeming lesson of tolerance when reflecting on 9/11.

"Moving to Ground Zero has a very personal meaning for me," said Simons, who was working at the South Street Seaport museum and was meeting a group of tourists at the Marriott Hotel when "the trade center collapsed around" her.

The Anne Frank Center was founded by Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, and since 1977 has been educating 2,500 school children annually about the Holocaust and offering lessons on the "universal message of tolerance," said Simons, who was born in the Netherlands, where Anne Frank was reared.

The new location, which will offer more space and be on the ground floor for better pedestrian traffic visibility, is expected to attract 10,000 visitors annually, she said.

Visitors to the new center will experience the size of the attic where Anne Frank and her family and several other Jews hid during the Holocaust. Photo projections of the actual attic will be shown on the walls, she said.

"This center will be the portal for those who cannot make it to the Amsterdam museum," said Simons, adding that the Manhattan center will become the second-largest exhibition of the Anne Frank Holocaust story.

The book "The Diary of Anne Frank" is the story of the Holocaust seen through the eyes of Anne, an adolescent girl hiding with her family and other Dutch Jews during World War II. They were later found by the Nazis and sent to concentration camps where they died.

The connection between 9/11 and Anne Frank "is the innate question why would human beings do this to other human beings," said Simons, who spoke from the center's obscure loft walk-up in SoHo.

Lee Ielpi, a retired firefighter whose firefighter son died on 9/11 and helped found Tribute WTC Visitor Center and the September 11th Families Association, said the Anne Frank Center "is a fitting and beautiful story for us here."

"The story of Anne Frank gives us dreams and wishes that people can live together in peace."