AMSTERDAM, Netherlands. Many are familiar with the story of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. The Diary of Anne Frank was first published in 1947 and later translated into 65 languages. Through it, millions of people have learned about the Holocaust and about Anne herself. Now, we have the opportunity to learn even more. Anne Frank's first cousin, Bernhard "Buddy" Elias, has donated his personal collection of thousands of letters, photographs, and documents to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Anne Frank House is located in the building where Anne's father Otto operated a spice business before using it to hide his family and four others from the Nazis. The building was converted into a museum in 1960. The museum honors the life of Anne Frank and her family. It also serves as an exhibition space to teach about all forms of persecution and discrimination.

Elias, 82, donated the collection in honor of the 60th anniversary of the first publication of The Diary of Anne Frank, originally published in Dutch by Anne's father as The Annex. "This is very moving for me," said Elias as he presented the collection to the director of the museum. Now, with Elias' collection, the Anne Frank House will possess nearly all known historical materials relating to the Frank family.

The collection provides little new information about the Frank family. Yet it does include many previously unseen photographs from the late 1890s of the Frank family in their home city of Frankfurt, Germany. It also includes a letter from Johannes Kleiman, a close family friend who was helping to hide the Franks in Amsterdam, written to members of the Frank family living in Switzerland in 1942. In the letter Kleiman obliquely hints that the Franks were still alive. Also included in the collection is a letter written by Otto Frank in 1945. This letter informs Otto's mother that his daughters Anne and Margot and his wife Edith had died in Nazi concentration camps.

Anne's notebooks were rescued hours after the arrest of Anne and her family in August 1944 by Miep Gies, an employee of Otto Frank's. Gies gave the notebooks to Otto when Frank returned to Amsterdam after the war. Anne died in March 1945 at age 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, two weeks before the camp was liberated. When Otto died in 1980, his collection of Anne's things was passed to Elias.

Elias feels that the value of his collection is in providing a window into the Frank family. It reveals much about Anne's writing talent and the family's love of learning and culture. "They spoke four languages," said Elias. "They were interested in art, in theater. When they went to a concert, or a play, they wrote about it. That's all in these letters." Peter Toebak, who spent two years organizing the collection, agrees. "There's a literary tradition in this family," said Toebak, which probably contributed to Anne's talent for writing.

Toebak said the collection may contain some surprises that historians could discover when they begin to delve into the files.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

- What are some of the moods and emotions that Anne expresses and that are noted when others talk about her?
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