Anne Frank tree is lost

The chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis toppled over in strong winds today.

The diseased tree made headlines around the world in 2007 when Amsterdam city council ordered it cut down for safety reasons.

Supporters who saw the tree, seen by the 13-year-old from her hiding place in the attic of an Amsterdam town house, as a symbol of freedom protested and it was granted a last-minute reprieve.

The 27-ton tree was encased in a steel support system, but that failed to save it.

A spokeswoman at the house which is now a museum to Anne's memory, said the tree's trunk snapped about three feet from the ground and it fell into neighbouring gardens, damaging several sheds. No one was hurt.

Many clones of the tree have been taken.

Anne wrote about it several times in the diary she kept during her stay in the house before she and her family were captured by the Nazis. She died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp .

The 150-year-old tree suffered from fungus and moths that had caused more than half its trunk to rot.

The Netherlands' Trees Institute, one of the most prominent supporters of the preservation project, said it was "unpleasantly surprised" by the news.

"On the advice of experts in tree care, it had been calculated that the tree could live several more decades" with the support structure, it said.

"Alas, in the event it seems that nature is stronger."

Many clones of the tree have been taken, including 150 at a park in Amsterdam. It is not clear whether a new tree will replace the original one on the same spot, since it rests on property belonging to a neighbour.

Anne made several references to the tree in the diary that she kept during the 25 months she remained indoors.

"Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs," she wrote on February 23, 1944. "From my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind."

She also wrote: "As long as this exists, ... and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies - while this lasts I cannot be unhappy."