ANNE FRANK'S TREE FACES AX AGAIN

Protesters Try to Save Anne Frank's Tree (SF Chron)
Hiding from the Nazis in a cramped Amsterdam apartment, Anne Frank often gazed at a majestic chestnut tree visible through an attic skylight — her only window to the outside world — and dreamed of freedom.

Now a group of conservationists and local activists are fighting to prevent the badly diseased tree from being cut down, saying it is a living link to the memory of the teenage diarist, who died in a Nazi concentration camp at 15.

"It's a monument to the spirit of what Anne Frank wrote — hope and light, which she did not have," said Sylvio Mutal, a neighbor whose study overlooks the courtyard where the tree is located.

Mutal, a former consultant to the United Nations on preservation of monuments, called a decision Tuesday by the city of Amsterdam to fell the tree next week a "betrayal," after earlier promises to wait until Jan. 1 to consider a salvage plan.

"I'm not doubting the tree is sick and may have to be cut," he said. "What I'm saying is, I want a second opinion."

The tree suffers from a fungus that has caused more than half its trunk to rot. The city ordered it cut down next Wednesday, citing an appraisal that said it was in imminent danger of falling.

But opponents, including the Netherlands' Trees Institute, challenged the decision as hasty and argued the tree is a living historical monument worthy of extraordinary measures to save.

The Utrecht-based institute carried out an independent inspection of the tree Wednesday and said it will seek an injunction to block the order.

SEE ALSO: ANNE FRANK'S CHESTNUT TREE GETS REPRIEVE; ANNE FRANK'S CHESTNUT TREE FACES AX