New Shoot Growing From Toppled Anne Frank Tree Could Save It

Aug. 23: The splintered trunk of the monumental chestnut tree, which comforted Anne Frank while she hid from the Nazis during World War II, is seen after it fell over during a storm in Amsterdam.

Campaigners hope a tree that comforted Anne Frank while she hid from the Nazis will survive after a new shoot started growing from the toppled chestnut's trunk.

A storm that buffeted Amsterdam on Monday snapped the tree and sent it crashing to the ground in a garden behind Frank's secret wartime hideaway.

Although no one was hurt when the 150-year-old tree fell across a fence at the Anne Frank House, fears were raised for its survival.

Helga Fassbinder, of the Support Anne Frank Tree foundation, said the remains of the trunk will be left in the ground so that a shoot growing out of healthy wood on one side can grow.

She said using an existing shoot on the trunk should provide a swift replacement for the chestnut.

"It grows faster than normal because it benefits from the enormous root system," she said.

The owner of the private garden where the tree stood agrees with the plan.

Fassbinder said large chunks of wood from the tree, estimated to weigh 60,000 pounds, will be lifted out of the garden by crane and saved.

A global campaign to protect the chestnut 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 saved it.

But the tree suffered from fungus and moths that had caused more than half its trunk to rot away.

In a bid to prolong its life, council workers had previously buttressed the tree's trunk in a steel cage, but it was not enough to save it from a strong gust in this week's storm.

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