Anne Frank is perhaps the most famous victim of one of the most terrible crimes in human history. Frank, a young Jewish girl who died in a concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 15, has become a symbol of the terrible crimes committed by the Nazis due to the diary she kept while she was hiding in the Netherlands.

At present, saplings from a chestnut tree that stood as a symbol of hope for Frank as she hid from the Nazis for two years are being sent to 11 locations in the U.S. as part of a project that aims to promote tolerance.

The tree, one of the Jewish teenager's only connections to nature while she hid with her family in her father's company building, was diseased when wind and heavy rain toppled it in August 2010. But saplings grown from its seeds will be planted starting in April.

The 11 U.S. locations include a park for the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City, an Arkansas high school that was the heart of the desegregation battle, and Holocaust centers in the states of Michigan and Washington.

The locations were selected based on their commitment to equality, tolerance and justice. "The heart of our mission is tolerance. Tolerance is essential for being able to bring better welfare to everybody," said The Anne Frank Center USA spokesman Mike Clary.

The tree is referenced several times in the diary that Anne Frank kept during the 25 months she remained indoors until her family was arrested in August 1944. "Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs," she wrote on Feb. 23, 1944. "From my favorite 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."

Her father, Otto Frank, was the only member of the family to survive the concentration camps, and upon his return to Amsterdam, he was given the diary, which had been saved by a family friend who had helped hide the Franks. The diary was first published in 1947 and is considered one of the most important books of the 20th century.

Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas plans to plant its sapling in September, on the 56th anniversary of the previously segregated high school's integration. A group of black students called the Little Rock Nine, who braved angry mobs in 1957 to integrate the school, became a symbol of the civil rights movement.

"Both Anne Frank and the Little Rock Nine dealt with hatred from ignorant people," said Nancy Rousseau, the school's principal. "All of them displayed great bravery and courage, which wasn't necessarily seen then, or now, in adults."

The Anne Frank Center wants the sapling project to go beyond the initial planting of the trees. The center is launching an education program called "Confronting Intolerance Today" that will include a "teaching and discovery" website to advance tolerance.

"We know that the tree was a sign of hope for Anne Frank who was unable to leave her living quarters," said Yvonne Simons, executive director of The Anne Frank Center USA. "Now, the tree can be a symbol of hope again."