The End of the Holocaust

4 Anne Frank:The Posthumous Years

Anne Frank: The Posthumous Years 95 Anne Frank: The Posthumous Years To me she is one of the survivors. —an inscription left by an anonymous visitor to the Anne Frank House It has been estimated that, among the almost six million Jews who fell victim to the Nazis during World War II, at least one million and perhaps as many as one and a half million were children . Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and other research institutions elsewhere have many of their names on record. To the world at large, however, these children all bear one name—that of Anne Frank. It is not that we lack information about the others, for more than a few of them were youthful authors and wrote diaries or other personal testimonies that have come down to us. For the most part, though, these other books remain relatively unknown while the diary of Anne Frank is almost certainly the most widely read book of World War II. It is as if the broad public has chosen to pay tribute to the memory of the others by remembering the one child who today stands for all the child victims of the Nazi era. To the million or more who perished we have given the collective name: Anne Frank. What accounts for this remarkable metonymy? How has it evolved, and what might it tell us about the evolution of a more broadly encompassing popular understanding of the Holocaust? four 96 the end of the holocaust These questions will form the heart of my inquiry in this chapter, one that aims to clarify how, on the level of popular perceptions, a sense of the past seems to be decisively shaped through the projection of single images of ubiquitous and compelling power. Through a study of the development of the image of Anne Frank, I hope to be able to reveal some of the ways in which a public memory of the Nazi era has itself been developing since the end of World War II. About the persistence and power of the figure of Anne Frank there can be little doubt today. Simply put, she may be the most famous child of the twentieth century. Her book has been translated into dozens of languages and has been read by many millions of people throughout the world. Millions more are acquainted with her story through the dramatic and film versions of her diary. Streets, schools, and youth centers bear her name, just as public statues, stamps, and commemorative coins bear her image. Youth villages, forests, and foundations have been named after her; ballets, requiems, and cantatas written for her; poems and songs composed in tribute to her; and public figures of every kind, from politicians to religious leaders, regularly invoke her name and quote lines from her book. In all of these ways her name, face, and fate are kept constantly before us. To illustrate this phenomenon that, far from lessening with the passage of the years, seems to be increasing in scope and intensity, consider the following. In June 1989, a series of events was held in New York City to commemorate what would have been the sixtieth anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth. Mayor Koch officially proclaimed the week beginning June 12 as “Anne Frank Week.” A major exhibition of photographs and texts from the Nazi era, entitled “Anne Frank in the World: 1929–1945,” opened at the City Gallery on Columbus Circle and later was shown at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and other places in New York. It drew tens of thousands of people. A gala celebrity concert honoring Anne Frank in words and music was performed under Anne Frank: The Posthumous Years 97 the title “Remembering Anne Frank” on the evening of June 12. Later that same night a prominent New York television channel offered the American premiere of Willy Lindwer’s Emmy award– winning documentary, The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank. A second film about Jews who had been hidden by Christians during the war was also shown. Books released that day included the Doubleday critical edition of The Diary of Anne Frank1 and a new school curriculum, The End of Innocence: Anne Frank and the Holocaust.2 An art exhibit that opened at a prominent gallery in Manhattan featured “The Anne Frank Series.” On June 13 Bill Moyers hosted on prime time television a special program about “The...