By Jennifer Valentovic, Libby Wu, and Jay Hung
source : http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/328519/record-number-visit-anne-frank-house/
Space where Frank hid and wrote her diary.
source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/175218241724718550/?from_navigate=true
source : http://marieieuropa.blogg.no/
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Description:
Our artifact is Anne Frank because of her relationship between The Netherlands and America. Her legacy has traveled from her hiding space in Amsterdam to the Anne Frank center in Manhattan. Otto Frank, her father, started the Anne Frank foundation in 1959, which created the center in 1977. Using “innovative education programs and exhibitions, the Center uses Anne Frank as a role model for today. Her insights and courage continue to inspire students, educators and citizens more than 60 years after her diary was first published,” (About the Anne Frank Center). Furthermore, her legacy lives on beyond Manhattan because of her diary “The Diary of a Young Girl” that is now read throughout America and the world.
Frank and her family emigrated to Amsterdam in 1933 from Frankfurt, Germany after the Nazis gained control of Germany (Annefrank.com). She enjoyed her time here in Amsterdam attending school, dating Dutch boys, and making friends, but once Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 this soon changed. She hid with her family in the secret annex, where she wrote in her diary about her daily life until she was eventually found by the Nazis and killed at Bergen Belsen concentration camp (AnneFrank.com). Frank is just one of the millions of Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, and her story represents the people who looked to Amsterdam for refuge during this tragic time.
Essay:
The “Secret Annex” in which Anne Frank hid during the years before she was sent to Bergen-Belsen during the Nazi regime was located above and behind the office of Otto Frank at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam. The space behind the office was the perfect place to hide, especially after a movable bookcase was built in front of the entryway to the space in August of 1942. The Frank family, along with four other Jewish people, started hiding in the annex in July of 1942 and four of Otto’s loyal employees agreed to help them hide and provide them with the supplies that they needed in order to survive. A diary that Anne Frank kept during her time in hiding details her life and he struggles she faced. It has now become an inspiration to many people in America because for most, her diary is the first exposure that they have to the unfairness of her situation and that of the many Jewish people and other people that were considered “undesirable”.
We decided to choose this artifact because of how relevant it is to our modern lives and to the culture in America today. Anne Frank is now well known in the entire world, let alone America, and is one of the more recognizable historical figures. There are many monuments and ways to remember her story today, such as the Anne Frank Center located in New York City that is directly associated with the “Anne Frank House” where she hid. Her diary is often used as teaching material in many of our schools, and is used to “educate young people and communities and communities in North America about the dangers of intolerance, antisemitism, racism and discrimination, and to inspire the next generation to build a world based on equal rights and mutual respect.” (Anne Frank Center)
Bibliography/Works Cited
http://www.amsterdam.info/museums/anne_frank_house/
http://annefrank.com/
http://annefrank.com/about-the-center/
http://annefrank.com/helpers-heroes-and-liberators/