The small hiding place where Anne Frank and her family took refuge from the Nazis between 1942 and 1944 is the focus of an exhibition in New York starting next week, which aims to narrate the life of the young woman as “a teenager, a writer and a symbol of resilience” and to help society “learn from the past.”
From January 27 to April 30, visitors to the Center for Jewish History, located in the heart of the Big Apple, will be able to see more than 100 objects that once belonged to the Frank family, world-famous for the famous diary of young Anne, as well as the hiding place where Anne and her family spent two and a half years.
Although unlike the original museum, this exhibition only has one floor, it adapts to the limited space to accurately recreate “the secret annex” – as Anne called it – where the Franks, Fritz Pfeffers and Van Pelses protected themselves from the Nazis.
A misunderstood teenager
At a press preview, Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, stressed that the exhibition not only tells the story of the family's "tragic fate," but also provides "a deeper, multifaceted view of Anne, as a victim but also as a teenager and writer."
And in the midst of the horrors that were happening around her, Ana grew up, going from being a little girl to a teenager who felt misunderstood by her family and who spent hours reading to escape.
The Center for Jewish History is displaying treasures such as the only video that exists of the young woman, smiling, looking out of a window in her house, as well as a short poem she wrote in 1939 and a Monopoly game she often played with her family.
The most precious part of the exhibition is the replica of the Frank family's secret hiding place, which was accessed by opening a false bookcase and which consisted of three small rooms that served as bedrooms, as well as a dining room where they met to listen to the radio and stay informed about the progress of the war.
In her case, Ana's room embodies the essence of the young woman, who, to liven up her stay there and make the days of "clandestinity" more bearable, decorated the walls with photographs of Hollywood actresses and various postcards.
An exhibition to learn from the past
The exhibition is not only a representation of the tragedy of the Franks - who in 1944 were discovered and taken to various concentration camps, from which only the father, Otto, emerged alive - but also a reminder of the millions of Jews who were murdered at the hands of the Nazis.
For Leopold, the fact that Anne Frank's story has crossed the pond is of vital importance, because "we live in a time when anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred are on the rise, not only in this country but throughout the world," and he referred to the recent anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred in Australia.
“An exhibition like this serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of confronting hatred through education and understanding,” he stressed, emphasizing that while it is important to “learn about the past,” it is even more necessary to “draw lessons from the past.”
“In the times we are going through,” a “call to action” is necessary, he concluded. EFE