This volume, grounded in the “Diary of a Young Girl” and its continued appeal to readers of all ages, sees promise in the relevance of Anne Frank’s story in the 21st century, and potential for new ways of teaching her story and those of other genocides and human right violations. Drawing connections from Anne Frank with these other cases clarifies the distinct nature of the Holocaust, and we build on the fact that the diary touches areas of deep interest, especially to young people, and that it has been read as a monument to resisting hate, which is itself a prerequisite for educating citizens of more diverse and inclusive societies. The diverse contributors to this volume illustrate how rich the ongoing engagement with Anne Frank and her legacy remain.
EXPLORING ANNE FRANK AND DIFFICULT LIFE STORIES presents innovative studies and reflections by a range of scholars, writers, and directors of museums dedicated to the legacy of Anne Frank. They reveal the power of life stories in teaching empathy and respect for all human beings in classrooms and in everyday life.
List of Contributors
1. Kirsten Kumpf Baele and Doyle Stevick
Teaching Anne Frank and Difficult Life Stories
Part
1. Anne Frank in the World
2. amal kassir
planting a tree today or arborists of the human spirit
3. Ronald Leopold
Let Me Be Myself: Teaching Anne Frank in the 21st Century
4. Doyle Stevick
One Anne Frank, Remembered
Part
2. Teaching Anne Frank
5. Mark Gudgel
I feel Like Writing: Critical Context and the Legacy of Anne Frank in
Education
6. Rachel Conrad
Anne Frank as Author: On Remaking the Diary, Youth Authorship, and Crafting
Time
7. Oren Baruch Stier
The Virtual Anne Frank
Part
3. Hearing Endangered Children
8. Naomi Yavneh Klos
In Quarantine with Anne Frank: Moving from Empathy to Compassion in a Global
Pandemic
9. Lorely French
The Memoirs of Ceija Stojka
10. Waltraud Maierhofer
More Hidden Children: The Korean Film Silenced as/and Disability Rights
Activism
Part
4. Storytelling, Service Learning and Religious Education
11. Sofie Decock and Kirsten Kumpf Baele
Remembering and Sharing Difficult (Hi)stories
12. Archibald, Jo-ann/ Qum Qum Xiiem
Experiencing Truth and Reconciliation Through Indigenous Storywork
13. Wilhelm Schwendemann
Prevention of Antisemitism and Racism as a Learning Outcome: Remembrance and
Memory in German School Curricula
Epilogue
14. Mallory Hellman
Coexistences: The Holocaust and Jewish Joy, Israel/Palestine, and Teaching
Jewish-American Children Through an International Crisis
15. Theodore Rosengarten
Let our eye look upon Zion
Index
Kirsten Kumpf Baele is the University of Iowas Anne Frank Initiative director and Associate Professor of Instruction in German. Her teaching and scholarship address youth agency and expression, trees in the arts, and contested spaces. She brought the 13th Sapling from Anne Franks Chestnut Tree to the university.
Waltraud Maierhofer is a Professor of German and Global Health Studies at the University of Iowa. Her recent research and teaching address representations of reproductive and disability rights in German and global fiction and film. Shes received Alexander von Humboldt awards and translated The Child Witches of Lucerne and Buchau (2022) by Swiss novelist Eveline Hasler.
Doyle Stevick is the Executive Director at the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. He was a Fulbright scholar to Estonia in 2003 and 201314 and has coedited two books on citizenship education and three books about Holocaust education around the world.