On Monday, 14 June 2021, the ˝Anne Frank Square˝ in the new Basel Erlenmatt residential area was inaugurated.
The ties between Anne Frank’s family and the city on the Rhine were manifold. Otto Frank’s sister Leni and her husband Erich Elias had, as early as in the 1930s, moved from Frankfurt to Basel for professional reasons, where their sons Stephan and Bernhard ˝Buddy˝ grew up. Otto and Edith Frank came to visit them here repeatedly with their daughters Margot and Anne. After the war and the loss of his entire family, Otto Frank moved to Basel, later settling down in Birsfelden, a suburb.
Thus, it is not surprising that Buddy Elias had submitted a request to the Basel authorities to dedicate a square to his late cousin Anne as long as 21 years ago. For various reasons it took a rather long time for it finally to happen, even though Buddy regrettably was not allowed to live to see the fulfilment of his wish: he died in March 2015.
The Anne Frank Square in the new Erlenmatt residential area is a popular meeting spot and playground for children and young people, which certainly would not only be very much appreciated by Anne, but which also coincides with her father Otto’s ideals and vision. The inauguration was attended by the City Councilor in charge and her predecessor, who formerly had initiated the naming of the square, and two more delegates of the Basel authorities together with four representatives of the Anne Frank Fonds Basel. Among the latter was Buddy Elias’ widow Gerti, who helped unveiling the nameplate with visible joy. A ninth-grade secondary school class contribute an important part to the program. Three of the students outlined in emotional words which parts of Anne Frank’s diary had especially impressed them and for what reason. This was a great testimony to what councilor Stephanie Eymann, head of the Justice and Security Department of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, said in her meaningful speech: that the diary of Anne Frank be indispensable for compulsory reading in schools – not only in order to raise awareness of anti-Semitism, intolerance and racism, but to the same extent in order to be impressed and guided by the confidence that Anne Frank, despite her dire circumstances, was able to exude.
The Anne Frank Fonds Basel is delighted by the fact that now here too, in the city where Otto Frank established a foundation as his universal heir 17 years before his death, a square is named after his famous daughter.