Kristallnacht

Tonight is the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass). The German Nazi-coordinated attacks on synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, & homes were the beginning of what we know as the Holocaust. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has excellent resources for teachers & students. We urge all teachers & parents to read Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust. No matter how much you know about the Holocaust, the museum has something to offer. (Here is last year's Kristallnacht post)

Anne Frank's Tree - An Interactive Monument

“Our chestnut tree is in full blossom. It is covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year...” - Anne Frank, 13 May 1944

Anne Frank often looked from the attic window at the chestnut tree behind the secret annex. She wrote about it in her diary. Now, the more than 150 year old tree is diseased, but online it will live on. Leave your leaf in the virtual chestnut tree, forward it and keep Anne Frank’s ideals alive. (via Anne Frank House)

As autumn returns to the northern hemisphere, the leaves will color & fall. Sadly, Anne's chestnut tree has not begun its annual cycle as it completely fell last August (2010). It's more important than ever, then, to keep the idea of the tree alive.

The Anne Frank website is wonderful for adults & children. There are several extraordinary sub-sites; you can take a virtual tour of the award-winning secret annex site & go back in time to where Anne wrote her famous diary. For students, a link for inspiration & information for school projects; for teachers, a link for you. The site (& subsites) is available in six languages.

ciao-meow/GG's editor

(chestnut tree by Powi; screenshot of interactive tree via Anne Frank)

Days of Remembrance, 1-8 May 2011

We hope that you will pass on the following information & also visit the Museum's website.

From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website:

The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims. This year Holocaust Remembrance Day is Sunday, May 1. The Museum designated Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide: What Have We Learned? as the theme for the 2011 observance. In accordance with its Congressional mandate, the Museum is responsible for leading the nation in commemorating the Days of Remembrance, and for encouraging and sponsoring appropriate observances throughout the United States.

Observances and remembrance activities can occur during the week of Remembrance that runs from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) through the following Sunday (view the Remembrance Day Calendar). Days of Remembrance are observed by state and local governments, military bases, workplaces, schools, churches, synagogues, and civic centers.

(bokeh light by generous D Sharon Pruitt, Pink Sherbet Photography, Free For All Creative Commons Set)

Remember Me: Displaced Children of the Holocaust

Between 1933 and 1945, millions of children were displaced as a result of Nazi persecution. Now, more than 65 years later, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is using postwar photos and the power of the online community to find out what happened to these children.

You can help by going to Remember Me to browse through some 1,100 photos of displaced children and share them with your family and friends. Who knows, you might even hold a clue that could identify a child, reunite relatives, or piece together a wartime or postwar experience.

The more people who see the photos, the greater the chance of identifying these children and raising awareness about the experiences of the most vulnerable victims of war and genocide.

Please share this with your family & friends on Facebook & Twitter. Thank you.

(photograph of Michel Sztulzaft who was identified this week; he lives in France/© The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives)

November 9/10, 1938

On 9 November, the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Anne Frank House will present the Anne Frank timeline a visual timeline in which Anne Frank’s story is placed in the context of important historical events. The Anne Frank Timeline starts in 1914 with the outbreak of World War One and Otto Frank’s conscription into the German army and continues through to today including the significance of the diary and the Anne Frank House.

The Anne Frank Timeline includes exceptional photographs and audio and video fragments. There is a TV interview with Simon Wiesenthal about his search for Karl Silberbauer, the SS officer who arrested Anne Frank and the others in hiding. There are also images taken in Amsterdam showing Jewish refugees from Germany who were taken in after the Kristallnacht. The timeline also includes fragments of radio broadcasts from Dutch radio stations with one of Otto Frank speaking at the opening of the Anne Frank House on 3 May 1960. (via Anne Frank House)

(photograph by D Sharon Pruitt)

Remembering Miep Gies

A great woman & hero died yesterday at age 100. Please visit the Miep Gies & Anne Frank websites. You can leave condolences here. (Yes, we know that Miep famously said that she was not a hero but did what was necessary. We think otherwise because most people did not do what was necessary.) [photographs via Miep Gies & Anne Frank websites]

Anne Frank's 80th Birthday - Week's End

UPDATE - Sunday, 14 June 2009. Until further notice, no comments can be accepted on this blog. Please do something to counteract hatred in your part of the world--non-violently. Thank you.

We so wish that Anne were alive & celebrating with Margot on a summer's beach holiday. Please visit the Anne Frank Museum Amsterdam official website. There is much to interest people of all ages. Please educate yourselves, as well, about the uptick in activity & membership in hate groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is renowned for tracking hate groups & individual haters (& bringing successful suit against them when legally possible); you can visit them here. They are a dedicated & inspiring group of people. And, of course, please visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (lower-right sidebar); the staff needs your support, moral & otherwise, especially this week.

"One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did, but whose faces have remained in the shadows. Perhaps it is better that way: if we were capable of taking in the suffering of all those people, we would not be able to live."
Primo Levi

[Anne Frank at desk photo credit; Anne & Margot at the beach; these credits will be updated as soon as possible as blogs & periodicals are not original sources of any Anne Frank images, as far as we know.]