BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — President Mauricio Macri of Argentina and Argentine-born Queen Maxima of the Netherlands visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
During the visit, Argentina signed two cooperation agreements to spread Anne Frank’s lessons to Argentine young people and to promote dialogue and tolerance.
Macri and wife Juliana Awada, along with several government ministers, started a two-day official visit to the Netherlands on Monday. After a meeting with Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander, they made their visit to Anne Frank House.
Heads of state visiting the Netherlands rarely make official visits to the Anne Frank House.
“The message of Anne Frank is one of hope in the midst of darkness. Anne Frank’s father was able to transform his enormous pain into a vision, committing the world to the struggle for human rights. ‘Think of all the beauty around you and be happy,’ Anne Frank wrote. With affection and respect,” Macri wrote in the museum guestbook.
The official Twitter account of the Anne Frank house noted the visit and the first line of the president’s message.
Macri also tweeted about the visit.
Argentina’s delegation and the queen were given a guided tour by executive director Ronald Leopold.
The cooperation agreements, according to the Argentine government, establish “a relationship of cooperation, coordination and reciprocal exchange to spread the legacy of Anne Frank and promote social inclusion processes and coexistence.”
Since 2009 there has been an Anne Frank House and Museum in Argentina that hosts permanent exhibitions and provides educational activities. The director of the Buenos Aires Anne Frank House and Museum, Hector Shalom, also participated in the presidential visit to Amsterdam.
In December 2014, a statue of the Holocaust teen diarist was dedicated in Buenos Aires.
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