Anne Frank was one of the Jewish victims of Nazi persecution during the Second World War. The building consists of two parts - a front house and a back annex. Otto Frank's business was located in the front house. The uppermost floors of the back annex became the hiding place. After more than two years the group was betrayed and deported. Anne and Margot died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen in March 1945, only a few weeks before this concentration camp was liberated. Otto Frank, the only member of the group to survive, returned after the war.

For more than two years Anne Frank and her family lived in the annex of the building at Prinsengracht 263 where Anne's father, Otto Frank, also had his business. The Van Pels family and Fritz Pfeffer hid there with them. The doorway to the annex was concealed behind a moveable bookcase constructed especially for this purpose. The office personnel knew of the hiding place and helped the eight people by supplying them with food and news of the outside world. On August 4, 1944, the hiding place was betrayed. The people in hiding were deported to various concentration camps. Only Otto Frank survived the war.

During the hiding period Anne Frank kept a diary. In it she described daily life in the back annex, the isolation and the fear of discovery. Anne's diary survived the war: after the betrayal it was found by Miep Gies, one of the helpers. When it was confirmed that Anne would not be returning, Miep gave the manuscripts to Otto Frank. In 1947 the first Dutch edition appeared. Since then the diary has been published in more then 55 languages.

At present, the rooms at the Anne Frank House, though empty, still breathe the atmosphere of that period of time. Quotations from the diary, historical documents, photographs, film images, and original objects that belonged to those in hiding and the helpers illustrate the events that took place here. Anne's original diary and other notebooks are on display in the museum. In the multimedia space, visitors can go on a "virtual journey" through the Anne Frank House, accessing background information about the people in hiding and World War Two. A contemporary exhibition is presented in the exhibition hall.