The award ceremony, which takes place at the residence of Ambassador Birgitta Tazelaar on March 25, will recognize Dr. Butter for her life-long commitment to educate Americans about the horrors of the Holocaust and speak out against hate and antisemitism.

Dr. Butter’s family fled Nazi-occupied Germany for the Netherlands in 1937. As a child growing up in Amsterdam, she lived in the same neighborhood as Anne Frank and the two became friends. Butter, her mother and brother, survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and were released during a prisoner exchange. Her father, who was beaten by the Nazis a few days before the family was released, died two days after leaving the camp. Eventually, Irene at age 15 emigrated to the United States in 1945. Her mother and brother joined her six months later.

At 94, Dr. Butter is a tireless advocate for human dignity and tolerance. Her body of work -- as an author, lecturer, and co-founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Medal & Lecture series and the organization Zeitouna -- demonstrates her determination to make the world a better place.

Dr. Kathrin Meyer, the former Secretary General of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), will be presented with the 2025 Anne Frank Special Recognition Award. The IHRA, founded in 1998, is an intergovernmental organization with 35 member countries dedicated to strengthen and promote education, remembrance, and research on the Holocaust. In her role as Secretary General, Dr. Meyer helped guide the IHRA Member and Observer Countries as they advance the mission of a world that remembers the Holocaust and combats antisemitism.

Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (MI-03) and Co-chair of the US Congressional Caucus on the Kingdom of the Netherlands will give opening remarks at the ceremony.

This year’s Dutch Tulip Days celebrates 80 years of freedom and the liberation of the Netherlands near the end of World War II in Europe. Over the course of four days, invited guests from Capitol Hill and the business, education, and nonprofit sectors will mark this occasion and attend events at the Ambassador’s residence in rooms decorated with thousands of tulips and cut flowers in honor of Anne Frank, the American icon Rosie the Riveter, and the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, where 8,288 Americans who fought and died during WWII are buried. Every grave is adopted by a Dutch family who tends each grave with a spirit of gratitude in honor of American bravery and sacrifice.

Media who would like to attend the Anne Frank Award must RSVP to: Was-ppc@minbuza.nl by 12 p.m. on March 21.