Anne Frank...

I am blown away by this artist's rendering of what Anne Frank MIGHT look like if she had lived to be 80 years old this year.  I stare at this old face, wondering if she might have gotten married, perhaps once, perhaps more....would she have had children? What about grandchildren? Would she have continued writing books, or would she never have published her diary at all? What else would she have accomplished? A college degree perhaps? Would she have volunteered as a Holocaust Survivor at the Museum in DC where I once worked?  I wish I could sit down and talk with this woman in the photo, I wish she had lived, I wish I could breathe life back into that young girl, so that she might have had all of those things. 

I have been very blessed to know Miep Gies, the secretary that Mr. Frank hired and who found Anne's diary after they were all captured, and I've been corresponding with her since we met in person in 1994.  I asked her the burning question that many thousands of other girls probably wondered after reading Anne's diary, "Would Anne ever have married Peter if they had lived?" Miep's answer was somber, but she only shook her head and said, "Anne was much smarter than Peter was, they were very close friends, but I don't believe a marriage would have worked out very well between them---however, the only answer I can truly give you is, we will never know."  I cried like a baby on my way home driving 3 hours after meeting her that day. Miep means the world to me. She just turned 100 years old in February.  Can you imagine being 100 years old?  I don't even want to try.

I see so much life and spark in those eyes of the older photo of Anne...the lifelines around her eyes, the wrinkles she would have earned...the gentle smile...the kind look....but the same rebellious nature sparks in her face just as it did when she was 15.  I wish with all my heart that this photo of the older Anne could spring to life suddenly and tell the world of her life after the Holocaust, to fill in the 65 years that have passed since her tragic death in the camp.......

I've also been very blessed to have met two of Anne's real childhood friends, Sanne Liederman, and Lies....they both came to the Museum and I spent the day with them, taking them on a tour of the Museum, learning so much about Anne and their friendship with her...it was a dream come true for me, to talk with them about her...to remember her as she was.

I don't know if I like someone "aging" Anne like that....but it breaks my heart even more and brings her to life again for me.  Every year on June 12th, I light a candle that has the Star of David on it, and I skim through her diary, reading some of my favorite passages, and then I watch the film...sometimes the original film with Shelley Winters, sometimes the newest version with Ben Kingsley...but every year, that is what I do, to remember her.

I hope you'll all do something to remember her, and all the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust. Anne has become the international symbol of lost innocence in war. Nobody can even comprehend the number 1.5 million children...but the Museum taught me that the number 1.5 million is like one whole school disappearing every day for 8 years.  So imagine THAT the next time you drive past an elementary school or a junior high school or your old alma-mater high school....everybody in it would just disappear one day, and that would happen for 8 long years....I try to explain to K-12 kids that from the day they started kindergarten, until the day they graduate high school, twelve long years, THAT is how long the Holocaust lasted. Twelve years, and a lost generation of children who might have cured cancer, or the common cold...who might have invented something so incredible, it would change our world completely. 

I hope to have my book published soon;  the first proof printing is going to happen on June 12th, to commemorate Anne's 80th birthday.  Once it's done, and approved, I'll send you all the information and/or a copy.  Remember Anne Frank.  Remember the children.

Love, Becky