ANNE FRANK'S CHESTNUT TREE GETS REPRIEVE

Anne Frank's Ailing Tree Gets a Reprieve (SFGate)
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The diseased chestnut tree that comforted Anne Frank while she hid from the Nazis during World War II has been granted a reprieve. The 150-year-old tree was due to be chopped down after experts determined it could not be rescued from the fungus and moths that caused more than half its trunk to rot.

The tree is familiar to millions of readers of "The Diary of Anne Frank." It stands behind the "secret annex" atop the canal-side warehouse where her family hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and its crown was just visible through the attic skylight — the only window that was not blacked out.

An appeals panel made two separate decisions last week: one upholding the right of the tree's owner to have it cut down any time in the next two years, and another granting a request by the country's Trees Institute to investigate the possibility of saving it, said Ton Boon, a spokesman for Amsterdam's Central borough.

The tree is on the property of Keizersgracht 188, adjacent to the building that is now the Anne Frank Museum. Property owner Henric Pomes has agreed for the time being to wait for the institute's proposal, due before Jan. 1, Boon said.

The Utrecht-based Trees Institute said its salvage plan would likely involve a combination of treatments and supports for its trunk and limbs.

SEE EARLIER: ANNE FRANK'S CHESTNUT TREE FACES AX