213 - Be the Change - Meet Anne Frank

MALE NARRATOR Anne Frank received her first diary in June of 1942 for her thirteenth birthday and started writing in it that day. Anne didn’t know it would become the most famous diary in the world. She also didn’t know that she would become the most famous diarist in the world. And she never would know because, two years after she received that diary, Anne Frank died in Bergen-Belsen. She was 15 years old. But it wasn’t just Anne’s historic diary that makes her exceptional, it’s who she was and how she thought. Her friends said she was outspoken, quick to judge, and not afraid to say what was on her mind. But they also said she was happy, popular, and easily bored. In her diary, she talked about what people thought about her: TEEN FEMALE “Everyone thinks I’m showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I’m silent, rude when I reply, crafty when I have a good idea, lazy when I’m tired, selfish when I eat a bit too much. [---] All day long I hear nothing except that I am an impossible child.” MALE NARRATOR This “impossible child,” illuminated one of the darkest periods in human history. Her vivid descriptions and clear observations, combined with her self-awareness and honesty, make her world real to us. It’s a story about growing up. A young girl, trying to become a woman, in a horrible time and place. Anne Frank wasn’t the only young diarist trying to grow up in a world of war. There were thousands of others. Some lived to tell their story in person and used the words they wrote to remember what happened. Some people didn’t survive and left only their diaries to tell us who they were. Other diaries remain hidden or lost, perhaps tucked away in a forgotten hiding place or stored in a dusty attic. Their value undiminished by their absence. TEEN FEMALE “The finest thing of all is that I can at least write down what I think and feel, otherwise I should suffocate completely.” MALE NARRATOR Anne Frank was an extraordinary writer and an even more extraordinary thinker, but that’s not why her story matters. It matters because she was, above all, an ordinary girl. A typical young woman. A human being who had human rights. To hear excerpts from her diary, please press the Play button now.

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Holocaust Museum Houston

Holocaust Museum Houston is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors’ legacy. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, we teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy.

 

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