Little girl at the window: Only known film of Anne Frank is posted on YouTube



Courage: Video footage of Anne Frank, shown here in an undated photo, has been released on YouTube

The only known film footage of diarist Anne Frank has been released for the first time to a worldwide audience.

The haunting black-and-white images show the then 12-year-old schoolgirl leaning out a window in her home city of Amsterdam at the height of World War II in July 1941.

Despite clearly smiling, she looks vulnerable and alone as she stares out on to the busy street.

Soon afterwards Nazi persecution of Jews meant she and her family had to go into hiding, before she was finally captured and sent to a concentration camp where she died aged 15.

Anne Frank’s Diary, chronicling her last few years, was first published in 1947 and became an international symbol of the Holocaust.



But while Anne’s prose has moved millions across the world and plenty of still photographs have been published, few have seen the only known film of her.



The Anne Frank House, a museum dedicated to her legacy, was in possession of the film - but previously it was only accessible to those visiting the museum or watching documentaries that contained the footage.

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Now, however, the museum - which is celebrating its 50th anniversary - has launched a YouTube channel as part of a virtual museum about her life.



The channel includes the 20-second video segment shot before a neighbour’s wedding - making it available around the world to anyone with an internet connection.



A clearly excited Anne can be seen watching the bride and groom heading off to Church, surrounded by friends, family and passers-by. There are few clues to the horrors to come.

See the video here

‘People around the world will be able to explore the life and significance of Anne Frank through such unique images,’ a museum spokesman said.

The site contains a clip of South African anti-apartheid activist and Nobel peace prize laureate, former president Nelson Mandela, talking about the strength he had derived from Anne's diary during his own imprisonment.

The newly released channel also includes an interview with Anne’s father, Otto Frank.

He was the only member of the family to survive the war and, after returning to Amsterdam, found his daughter’s diary had been saved and got it published.



Started by Anne shortly after her 13th birthday, it chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944, not long before she perished at Germany’s Bergen-Belsen camp from typhus.



The diary was first published in Dutch in 1947. Since then it has been translated into numerous languages, and is now one of the world’s most widely read books.

The virtual, online museum will be launched on April 28 next year as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Anne Frank House museum