The Anne Frank tree, toppled by a storm, may grow again.

A shoot growing from the splintered trunk of the chestnut that cheered the teenager during her time hiding from the Nazis could give it a new lease of life a campaign group said yesterday.

Winds that buffeted Amsterdam yesterday snapped the tree and sent it crashing to the ground in a garden behind Anne’s secret wartime hideaway.

Helga Fassbinder of the Support Anne Frank Tree foundation said the remains of the trunk will be left in the ground so that a shoot growing out of healthy wood on one side can grow.

She said using an existing shoot on the trunk should provide a swift replacement for the chestnut.

“It grows faster than normal because it benefits from the enormous root system,” she said. The owner of the private garden where the tree stood agrees with the plan.

Ms Fassbinder said large chunks of wood from the tree, estimated to weigh 27 tonnes, will be lifted out of the garden by crane and saved. Smaller branches and leaves will be chipped. A global campaign to save the chestnut was launched in 2007 after city officials deemed it a safety hazard and ordered it felled. The tree was granted a last-minute reprieve after a battle in court.