On Tuesday, Eastern Michigan University held a screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary “Anne Frank Remembered.”
The film serves as the conclusion to the Anne Frank Sapling Project series that has been coordinated by the Holocaust Memorial Center of Farmington Hills. The HMC has had a close partnership with EMU for six years according to Rebecca Swindler, the director of programs for the HMC.
Swindler continued by saying that the project centers on the new Anne Frank exhibit that opened at the HMC on Sept. 22. The exhibit features a chestnut sapling, one of 11 taken from the now dead chestnut tree that sat outside the annex of the Opekta factory where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis for two years. Other events in the series included a cantata at Berkley High School and journaling and art projects for students.
Those participating in the art project, the Anne Frank door project, were asked to include a quote they found inspirational. Two prompts were given to students doing the art projects: What would you ask Anne Frank if she were alive today? What would you say to her? Swindler was asked these two questions.
“Did she have hope at the end?” Swindler asked.
Robin Axelrod is a member of the EMU Jewish Studies Community Advisory Board.
“One of the things I would ask her is what would you want to tell young girls?” Axelrod said. “What would you want to have them know about you? What do you want your legacy to be?”
Martin Shichtman, director of Jewish Studies at EMU, has worked closely with the HMC for four years. Together they have hosted a seminar for teachers over the past four summers. He said the turnout was higher than he expected, considering the Tigers were playing that night.
Theatre arts major Anton Koyton said he is currently working on a play guide for “And Then They
Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.”
“It’s a sad story – she dies at the end,” Koyton said. “I think Anne Frank’s message is a message of hope, it’s a message of life.”
