Anne Frank, May 1942. Via Wikipedia.
Anne Frank would be 85 today if it wasn’t for the fateful events of August 4th, 1944. Anne Frank was arrested in Amsterdam by the German Security Police. Her crime? Being an innocent Jewish girl. She was captured following a tip from an informer, they were never identified.
70 years later we still remember Anne Frank’s name. Her published diary, The Diary of a Young Girl (1947), gave her memory immortality.
August 4th, 1944 marks the beginning of the end to Anne Frank’s personal story. She would die less than year after entering the concentration camps. The exact date of her death was never documented, but it is assumed to have taken place in early March, 1945. Now the poster child for the millions who fell victim to the Holocaust, Anne Frank’s legacy needs to be passed down again and again, as do the memories of what took her life.
The Holocaust was not the first act of genocide in this world, and it wasn’t the last. Hatred and fear have continued to fuel prejudice. Today we take at least a moment to remember a girl that didn’t deserve to die. A hopeful child, who at one point in time, was like the rest of us. Then she had her childhood, aspirations and life ripped from her.
All of the victims, many of them Jewish like Anne, deserve honor. Sadly, there are too many names for a person to remember them all. This is why we continue to tell Anne Frank’s story. To get personal with at least one victim, and show each generation that the Holocaust victims were innocent people.
The Holocaust and genocide are not solely a German problem or a Jewish problem. That is why people around the world remember Anne. When we remember Anne Frank we remember that the Holocaust happened. The Holocaust was real. Genocide is not an impossible concept, and yes, genocide even takes place today. We remember that we are all people, and that no one deserves to suffer through the effects of prejudice.
Facts used in this article, and more about Anne Frank here:
http://www.historyorb.com/day/august/4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank#Deportation_and_death
