Queen Maxima Was 'Very Approachable' at Anne Frank Exhibit in N.Y.C., Holocaust Survivor Says (Exclusive)

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands left an impression during her meaningful morning at Anne Frank The Exhibition in New York City.

On Feb. 25, the Queen of the Netherlands, 53, visited the special new exhibit at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan during her official visit to the United States. Anne Frank The Exhibition opened on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27 to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest death camp. 

The Dutch Queen was emotional as she moved through the curated display, which includes the first full-scale recreation of the secret annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid for two years during World War II to evade Nazi persecution for being Jewish. The group was later found, and Anne died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15. However, her father Otto Frank fulfilled his daughter's wish of becoming a writer by posthumously publishing her diary chronicling their life in hiding. 

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl has since been translated into over 70 languages, and the house where the Franks hid with four other people is now a museum that welcomes over a million visitors per year, according to the Anne Frank House.

Queen Máxima was reflective and asked Anne Frank House Executive Director Ronald Leopold many questions during the tour, which PEOPLE attended. Over 100 objects on display (some never seen before publicly) included items such as Anne's album with school photos, a replica of her first diary and a poem that she wrote.

Later, the Queen shared a discussion with freshman students from Great Neck North High School in New York, who visited the exhibit in connection to their curriculum, and privately met with exhibition benefactors including Leo Ullman, a Holocaust survivor.

Exclusively speaking to PEOPLE, Ullman says that it meant much for the royal to tour the exhibition.

"I think it's very important because the Royal House of the Netherlands has been extremely supportive of the Jewish history and the Jewish population of Amsterdam and the Netherlands, which is very small at this point, but they have been extremely supportive, and I think we owe the royal family quite a lot," Ullman, 85, tells PEOPLE. 

The Queen "is amazing. She's very nice and outgoing, reaches out with her hand. I was afraid I'd have to curtsy or do something, and she's very approachable and very, very nice," he says.

Ullman was born in Amsterdam and survived World War II as a "hidden child." He later immigrated to the United States, attended Harvard, served in the Marines, became an attorney and headed the Anne Frank Center USA for 20 years, per a biography.

As a supporter of the exhibit, Ullman says his wish is that the spotlight of Queen Máxima's stop will draw more visitors. The showcase was originally slated for a three-month run and extraordinary demand has prompted its extension to Oct. 31, 2025. 

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"I think the Queen puts an imprimatur on the exhibit in terms of its quality and its importance and its meaning for the story of Anne Frank, and the story of the Anne Frank House in Holland. I think it's also testimony to the brilliance of the people who created this exhibit," Ullman tells PEOPLE. "It's the most phenomenal exhibit, and it goes through a lot of history of the Anne Frank family that you wouldn't catch if you just go to the house in Holland. So it's very special, and to have her be here gives it a sense of significance and quality that's really welcomed."

Ronald Leopold, the director who showed Queen Máxima the space, exclusively tells PEOPLE that he especially hopes more students can come view it. 

"We're thrilled about what we see in New York. It's an overwhelming success. The response of the visitors is very moving so we are really very grateful for the opportunity to present Anne Frank's story here in New York. We hope that tens and tens of thousands more visitors will come to the exhibition. Hopefully, especially, students, right?" he says. "This exhibition has been designed for the general public, but it's specifically geared for students. And the New York City public schools can come with their classes for no cost to the exhibition, same for Title 1 schools. We hope to see hundreds of thousands of them coming over."

As for what it's like to spend the morning with Queen Máxima, the longtime director of the Anne Frank House says the royal is utterly lovely in real life.

"She is exactly the same person behind the scenes and in front of the cameras. She's a wonderful person. I know she's very dedicated to the cause," Leopold tells PEOPLE. 

"She's very dedicated to eradicating the hatred from our communities because it's endangering how we live together. Obviously being the Queen of each and every one in the country, regardless of your background, regardless of your ethnicity, your religion, you are the Queen of each and every citizen of a country. That's why this message of a shared humanity that comes from this exhibition is so incredibly important to her."

Queen Máxima is married to King Willem-Alexander and the couple share daughters Princess Catharina-Amalia, 21, Princess Alexia, 19, and Princess Ariane, 17. The royal couple's children are not far in age from the high school students that the Queen met with at the Center for Jewish History, and the outing took her to the city where she previously worked as a banker before meeting her husband in 1999.