A statue of Anne Frank (Monumento a Ana Frank) stands in the Kingdom of Netherlands Square in memory of the Holocaust and the glorification of life and hope. Anne Frank (1929-1945) was a 4-year-old Jewish girl when Hitler rose to power, and she moved to the Netherlands with her family. She was a creative and energetic child that aspired to become a famous writer. When Germany invaded the Netherlands and imposed antisemitic laws on the local Jews, Amsterdam was not safe for them anymore. In July 1942, the family hid in a secret annex at the building of her father’s company alongside four more people. In the diary she received for her 13th birthday, Anne detailed her life in the annex, expressing her hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles. On August 4th, 1944, after two years of hiding, the annex was discovered by the German secret police, and Anne, together with her family, was sent to Auschwitz. After a few months, she and her sister died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The only family member to survive was Anne’s father, Otto. On his return to Amsterdam, he received his daughter’s diary, kept by one of his loyal workers who helped them when living in the annex. To fulfill his daughter’s dream of becoming a famous writer and to show the world how the war has impacted the lives of children, Otto published Anne’s diary under the title The Diary of a Young Girl. It became a best-seller, was translated into over 70 languages, and adapted into dozens of films, TV shows, and theater productions, making Anne one of the most known holocaust victims in the world. The Dutch Embassy in Argentina and the Argentinian Ministry of Education donated the Anne Frank statue to Buenos Aires. It was dedicated on December 9th, 2014, the 66th International Human Rights Day, by representatives of the Buenos Aires City Government, the Dutch Embassy in Buenos Aires, the Anne Frank House and Museum of Buenos Aires, and many local Dutch and Jewish community members (the largest community in South America). The bronze statue is a replica of the Anne Frank statue at the Merwedeplein square in Amsterdam, sculpted by Dutch artist Jet Schepp in 2005. Anne is depicted wearing her traveling clothes and carrying the two small bags she took with her when entering the annex. In March 2022, the statue was stolen, probably for its metals and not antisemitism. It was found and restored three days later. Also in Buenos Aires is the Anne Frank House and Museum, Centro Ana Frank Argentina. Several places worth a visit are a short distance from the statue, such as the Monumento a Juana Azurduy, the Mayo Palazzo, the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts), and the Buenos Aires Museo (BAM). Read more...

A larger-than-life bronze statue of the Latina heroine Juana Azurduy stands at the Plaza del Correo. Juana Azurduy (1780-1862) was a guerrilla military leader who fought at the Bolivian War of Independence and was a leader of the indigenous people of Upper Peru for independence. She fought along with her husband till he was captured and killed by the Spanish. Together they had five kids. After the Spanish withdrawal, she retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Some people say she is the Latina Joan of Arc. She got her recognition only 100 years after her death. Her remains moved to a mausoleum in Sucre, and her birthday, July 12, was declared the Day of Argentine-Bolivian Fellowship. In 2013, Argentina’s then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner decided to replace the statue of Cristopher Columbus, which was donated by the Argentine Italian community for the 1910 centennial of Argentine independence, with the indigenous heroine Juana Azurduy. It was a symbol of celebrating the contribution of the less-represented history of the nation’s indigenous populations. The Argentine sculptor and indigenous rights activist Andrés Zerneri created the 25-ton, 52-foot-high statue, depicting Azurduy holding a sword in her left hand as a symbol of liberation, carrying her baby on her back. Her right hand protects the baby and the people behind her. On July 15, 2015, the statue was dedicated to a special ceremony attended by Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the Bolivian president Evo Morales, who also funded the statue. Few months after its inauguration, it suffered from weather damage. For its repair (and maybe for political reasons) it relocated to its current location. Read more...