New research by the Anne Frank House museum shows that the famed Second World War diarist is likely to have died earlier than previously thought.

The conclusion was published today, on the 70th anniversary of the official date of the deaths of Anne and her sister Margot as decided by Dutch authorities after the war.

But researchers Erika Prins and Gertjan Broek say that the Jewish pair likely died of typhus in February 1945.

Anne's diary about her life in hiding during the war has made her a symbol for the suffering of Holocaust victims.

The research, based on witness accounts, documents and at least one new interview, underscores the horrific conditions Jews endured in the Bergen-Belsen camp where Anne died at the age of 15.