When I was a kid I attended a high school assembly in observation of the Holocaust. The other kids and I met an elderly couple in the local library. The older gentleman was a concentration camp survivor who showed us his tattoo. He was a little difficult to understand but his wife did most of the talking. The man told a story of how when he first entered the camp they gave him rotten potatoes to eat. He refused to eat them and instead gave them away to other prisoners. After a couple of days he said he was so hungry that he went back to the prisoners to whom he had given the potatoes and told them that they each owed him a potato. He cried and I remember thinking how many times he had told this story and still he was moved to tears.
We were made to read Anne Frank Diaries after.
I think that that was the first time ever that I was projected out of myself and started thinking about the things that other people go through. I was made bigger by that assembly and smaller at the same time. That was many years ago and I still feel compelled to visit Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House.
I haven’t made it so far but it’s still on my list of things to do. Score one point for high school assemblies.
The above video is the only existing moving images of Anne Frank.
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