Anne Frank - her diary and the Mini Series

My daughter and I had a bonding session the other night, not during a shopping trip, or a visit to the hairdresser, or over hot chocolate and cake; instead, we sat on the couch, curled up under blankets with a box of tissues handy as we sobbed our way through the tele-series Anne Frank: The Whole Story. Although not endorsed by the Frank family (due to a dispute over who actually reported the whereabouts of the Frank family to the authorities), the series is very true to the actual diary and what is reported to have happened afterwards. The scenes of the concentration camps in particular were harrowing in their realism and Ben Kinsley as Anne’s father is brilliant. The only survivor from all the people hidden in “the secret annexe”, he returned to a world where everything had been taken away from him and had to somehow survive that - almost impossible to imagine.  

In fact, the character of Anne's father is probably what choked me up the most.  Afterwards, we also watched an interview from the late 70s with Anne's father. Mr Frank began the Anne Frank Foundation in 1963 and the foundation now holds the copyright to Anne's diary and runs a series of charitable projects many of which appear to be centred around working with and supporting young people.  In the interview, Mr Frank said he started the foundation to encourage peace and tolerance between people especially those who are young. 

My daughter has recently read Anne’s diary, which is why we watched the tele-series. For me as a mother it was fascinating how my daughter identified so much with the day-to-day emotions of Anne writing 70 years earlier - particularly at times when Anne was having issues with her own mother! I guess some things never change...

Both the book and the series deeply affected my daughter - it has opened her to a world of new ideas and increased her understanding of, and interest in, events and places previously unknown to her - all through the power of Anne's story. And of course that story is made all the more poignant because of what the reader and the viewer know about her fate.  Even as she lives and loves and writes we know there is no escape for her.  And perhaps the truly sad thing, is that if Anne had somehow escaped to grow old and marry and have children and grandchildren, her diary and her story would never become as famous as it has.