experience georgetown
by Cassidie Cox
photo credits: AFS/AFF, Amsterdam/BASEL courtesy of Lenora Hausman
The Life Story of Anne Frank on Display
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f we forget our history, we will never have a sense of just how much it has changed. To that end, Congregation Havurah Shalom of Sun City, in partnership with the Georgetown Public Library, has brought a new Anne Frank exhibit to the library (402 W 8th St), open now through November 15. “Let me be myself and then I am satisfied,” Anne wrote in her diary in 1944. In the secret annex where the family hid from the Nazis, Anne dreamed of becoming a writer and journalist after the war. Little did she know what an internationally famous writer she was becoming even then.
But, to the Nazis, Anne Frank was just Jewish, and just another of the 1.5 million children who died as a result of the anti-Semitism of the Nazis and the Holocaust. She was 15. Lenora Hausman, co-chair of the exhibit says, "This exhibit will be more than just information, it will bring this history to life with photos and videos. The exhibit will provide insight into Anne and her family throughout their lives, as well as how they were affected by the world around them with the rise of Hitler and the Second World War." In addition to visual exhibits, the display includes a scale model of the Franks' hiding place, and a replica of Anne’s famous diary, which has never been out of print since first published in 1947.
“ I T ’ S D I F F I C U LT I N T I M E S L I K E T H E S E : IDEALS, DREAMS, AND CHERISHED HOPES R I S E W I T H I N U S , O N LY T O B E C R U S H E D B Y G R I M R E A L I T Y." ~ f ro m A n n e' s d i a r y
A WORLD OF CHANGE... The world is so different from the days of Anne Frank that her story, to younger generations, may feel made up. In a solemn effort to reaffirm our connection, the exhibit includes written experiences from six 21st-century teens whose lives reflect a bittersweet similarity to Anne's. The teens depicted in the exhibit come from various backgrounds with diverse identities and disabilities. “Aren’t we all born equal?” they ask. Their stories of intolerance, discrimination, and racism are important to read, and demonstrate the idea that discrimination is still a daily occurrence all over the world. Lenora is very pleased with the library's collaboration. "We need exhibits like this more than ever with the rise of anti-Semitism, discrimination, the bullying. What is wonderful about this exhibit is how it brings the lessons of the past into the present with the stories of six contemporary teenagers who have
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OC TOBER 2021 GEO R GE TO W N V I EW
