Anne and Holocaust Remembrance Day

We just recently watched The Diary of Anne Frank – just finished watching last night.  We just discovered that the United Nations has declared today International Holocaust Remembrance Day, so it was an appropriate movie to watch, even though we didn’t know it!

For those that don’t know, Anne Frank was a young girl who kept a diary while in hiding in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) during World War II.  Her diary was published (I read it many years ago) and of course made into an award winning movie (and a recent mini-series, and many other things).

The only survivor of the group was Anne’s father Otto.

We also discovered that one of the people who helped hide Anne and the others just recently passed away – Miep Gies was 100 when she died on the 11th of this month.  Of the main characters in the movie, she was the last survivor.

Another of the people who helped hide the Franks and the others was Victor Kugler (Mr. Kraler), who moved with his family to Canada and died in Toronto in 1981.

In another of those oddities of history, there is actually brief film footage of Anne Frank herself – see it below.

The Netherlands was largely liberated by the Canadian army, another reason why Anne’s story is especially interesting – but the liberation was too late for so many.

Let’s remember those millions of people, murdered by so many other people, so many years ago.  We should never forget.