Fonds
Grants
The Anne Frank Fonds uses the income from rights and licences for charitable and good causes and for education projects. The Board of Trustees decides on the applications.
The Anne Frank Fonds uses the income from rights and licences for charitable and good causes and for education projects. The Board of Trustees decides on the applications.
The funding policy of the Anne Frank Fonds is based on Otto Frank’s final dispositions and last will and testament, and on Anne Frank’s writings.
Grants are issued in the following areas, in particular:
Education against racism, anti-Semitism, discrimination, prejudice and violence
Support of human rights, in particular women’s and children’s rights
Education of children and teenagers
Dialogue across cultures, ethnic groups and religions
Peacebuilding
Refugee relief
Holocaust survivors
Projects outside Switzerland will, as a general rule, only be supported upon recommendation of a Swiss institution listed in the register of commerce and recognised as charitable (NGOs, foundations, associations, etc.), or – in exceptional cases – by trustworthy private persons. Such institutions or persons must be familiar with the project abroad and ready to submit the application on its behalf under their own name and to vouch for its proper implementation.
The Anne Frank Fonds and the New Israel Fund (NIF) have formed a partnership to fund projects in Israel. In Israel only projects that correspond to the purpose of the NIF foundation are funded. The centre of all NIF activities is the promotion of equality and democracy for all Israeli citizens and inhabitants of the country.
The NIF will handle all applications from Israel on behalf of the Anne Frank Fonds in two grant cycles per year. For this reason, any applications for grants on projects in Israel are to be sent to the following e-mail address: israel@annefrank.ch
Decisions about grants are generally communicated in writing within eight to ten weeks of receipt of the application.
Submit a grant application »
A representative selection of projects supported by the Anne Frank Fonds:
The Leo Baeck Education Centre in Haifa was founded in 1938. Rooted in the humanistic values of Progressive Judaism, the centre provides more than 2000 students, from pre-school to high school, with education, sports facilities, and other educational programmes.
Sadaka Reut is an Arab-Jewish organisation in Jaffa that educates and empowers Jewish and Palestinian young people and students to affect social and political change through binational partnership.
«Schalom –Salam» – has been heard in the village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam for almost 40 years now. In the midst of a world filled with violence and terror, Jews, Palestinians, Muslims and Christians live together in this village.
Givat Haviva was established in 1949 as a further training centre of the Ha’artzi Kibbutz Movement. It is Israel’s oldest and one of the most prominent institutions campaigning for Jewish-Arab dialogue.
The Peace Kindergarten founded by the Jerusalem Foundation is housed in the YMCA building in the heart of the city of Jerusalem and is attended by Jewish, Arab and Christian children.
Originally established in 1951 for children who had escaped the Holocaust, the children’s village has developed over the decades into a place for socially disadvantaged and traumatised children and young people.
Projects in the Romanian towns of Cluj and Arad and in the Indian metropolis Mumbai aim to give children and teenagers future prospects and keep them from life on the streets
The Warriors of Hope Foundation in Zurich supports street children in Romania and India.
ROKPA attaches great importance on help for self-help. Education enables disadvantaged people to escape the poverty trap and protect themselves against being exploited and abused. This is why ROKPA uses education schemes to prepare disadvantaged children and adults for a self-determined life.
The ROPKA association is committed to orphans in Tibet and Nepal.
The aim of the Norbuling Switzerland association is to give children in Nepal a good start in life. These are children whose own families are unable to take on this task for the most varied of reasons, such as poverty, death, or natural disasters.
Education is the first foundation of the path towards self-sufficiency and therefore towards an independent life. Education cannot be sold, stolen or lost. Everyone who can read and write has better chances of standing up for their rights and thus of taking responsibility for their own life. The main emphasis of the support is on children and women as, for them, life represents a particular challenge in India.
Nevandra promotes the education of girls in India.
This is a politically independent, non-denominational organisation that deals with the causes and consequences of National Socialism and its crimes. Since 1992, young volunteers have been sent to countries where the Nazis and their helpers committed crimes or where survivors of the Nazi killing machine live today. During their one-year period of duty, memorial service volunteers look after young people, take care of elderly people, or work in archives and museums. Since 2016, the volunteering law has meant that men and women are equally entitled to participate in the «Gedenkdienst» programme.
Educational projects for school classes.
The South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town.
Anne Frank / Yad Vashem medical found for the righteous
Reflecting on the heroism of the Righteous who had sustained the Frank family and the other occupants in hiding for two years, it was decided to seek ways of helping the Righteous more generally. Thus, in 1987 contact was made with Yad Vashem in Jerusalem with a view to seeking ways of helping the Righteous, those courageous Gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews and received no financial reward. Before being awarded the title of “Righteous among the Nations” all candidates are closely vetted by Yad Vashem.
After protracted discussions, in October 1987 the two organisations agreed to establish a Medical Fund to help needy Righteous, particularly those living in what was previously known as the “Soviet Bloc”. The Fund would provide them with medication not available in their countries or for which they did not possess the necessary financial means to purchase locally.
The scheme was characterized by its simplicity and high level of effectiveness. Those Righteous in need of help sent their medical prescriptions either via Yad Vashem or directly to the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel supported by their certificate of honour. A pharmacist in Basel processed these prescriptions and sent the required medication directly to the Righteous concerned. In addition to medication, eyeglasses, blood pressure monitors and hearing aids were also provided.
The greatest ongoing need for the services of the Fund came from Poland. This is the country where the largest number of Righteous are registered. As per 1.1.2022, Yad Vashem’s statistics show 7,232 compared to 5,632 as of 1.1. 2002. Over the years help has also been provided to individuals in Albania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia and the Czech Rep.
Initially the Fund was financed entirely by the Anne Frank Fonds. As the need for help grew, other sources of help were sought. Over the years generous contributions were received from many sources. In due course the Fund was supported entirely from external donations The most prominent and generous was the late Dr Alfred Bader of Milwaukee USA. It is worth noting that the first Jewish organization that recognized the need for providing aid to the Righteous was the ADL in New York. Subsequently they formed The Jewish Fund for the Righteous (JFR) which in turn received funding from the Claims Conference. The JFR was an extremely efficient and well-run organisation with whom we cooperated for many years and which also generously supported the AF Medical Fund.
It cannot be emphasized enough that the only Jewish organisations that provided regular help to the Righteous over the last 30 or so years were in fact the JFR and the AF Medical Fund. To put this in context, it is worth reflecting on Elie Wiesel’s quotation:
“What astonished us after the torment, after the tempest, was not that so many killers killed so many victims but that so few cared about us at all”.
The question must then be asked. How were the needy “carers” themselves actually helped? Those Righteous living in Western Europe usually enjoyed support under the normal national pension schemes or were directly aided by the Jews they had rescued (Oskar Schindler being the most prominent example). The situation in the Eastern bloc countries was much more challenging. Direct contact with them was far more difficult. Due to antisemitism, in a number of cases individual Righteous did not want it known that they had actually helped Jews during the Shoah.
Yad Vashem was only tasked with vetting and identifying candidates for recognition as Righteous. They did not have any means for actually providing aid to them. The earlier directors of the Righteous department at Yad Vashem, themselves Shoah survivors, were very sympathetic to this need and an Association of the Righteous existed in Poland. However, following the retirement of Dr Mordechai Paldiel in 2007, his successors showed virtually no interest in the Medical Fund or alternative ways of helping to provide support to the Righteous.
The Anne Frank Medical Fund and the Jewish Fund for the Righteous have been wound up due to lack of demand for their services. It is now worth reflecting once again on Elie Wiesel’s quotation. Thus, in retrospect it seems quite extraordinary that over the years there were not more organisations in place to provide help to the needy Righteous.
Finally, a few key statistics from the 36 years of the Medical Fund’s operation from 1988 to mid-2024. In 1988 16 deliveries were made to 11 Righteous all in Poland to the value of CHF14K. In1994 this had risen to 171 deliveries valued at CHF 41K to 80 Righteous. In 2003 our peak year, 332 deliveries where made to149 Righteous to the value of CHF 160K.
In total 4,345 deliveries to the value of CHF 2Mio.were made during the 36 years of operation.
In conclusion, the words of the historian the late Sir Martin Gilbert honouring the Righteous are appropriate
“To make a difference courage and imagination are needed in the highest degree. We can only hope that, were we ever tested, we would find that courage and imagination to follow the example of those who brought a shaft of light to the darkness of the holocaust.”