Beyoncé Knowles and rapper husband Jay Z visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam after her concert at the Ziggo Dome for her Mrs. Carter tour.
Anne Frank was 15 when she died of typhus after contracting it at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her legacy has far outlived her own life, as evidenced by a museum devoted to her and her diary. Her diary is taught in English classes all over the world. It is an iconic story of a girl in hiding, but it is so much more than that.
The museum was obviously excited about Beyoncé’s visit, even though Beyoncé and Jay Z aren’t native to Europe. They posted photos of Beyoncé and Jay Z signing the guestbook on their website and released a statement about it on their Facebook:
“American singer Beyoncé and rapper-producer Jay Z visited the Anne Frank House today. They were more than an hour inside and very impressed by their visit to the hiding place of Anne Frank.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z took a couple of photos at the iconic and haunting landmark and posted them to Instagram. Gilllian Walnes was extremely excited about the visit.
She believes it fosters curiosity of young people to learn more about Anne and her family and what they had to go through under Hitler’s reign of terror. Walnes, executive director of the Anne Frank Trust UK, stated of Beyoncé’s visit:
It invites their curiosity about knowing more – reading Anne’s diary, or even visiting the Anne Frank House.”
Beyoncé is not the first celebrity to gain attention by visiting the Anne Frank house. When Justin Bieber did it last year, it spurred many young teens to look into Frank and why their idol was visiting her. Being Bieber, he had to write something disrespectful:
Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.
Here’s hoping that Beyoncé wrote something a little better than Bieber.
Today the adventures continue in Amsterdam. Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Blue Ivy had a family bike ride. And caused a ruckus with female fans on Instagram. Just goes to show, Queen Beyoncé is worldwide.