A moving and highly relevant exhibition to how we see ourselves in the 21st Century has been secured for the town by Swindon South MP Anne Snelgrove.
In January 2009, to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day at the end of month, the prestigious exhibition Anne Frank+You will be in Swindon for a month.
Aimed at young people aged ten upwards and adults, the cutting edge multi-media experience is focused on the diaries of Anne Frank, the Dutch teenager who recorded her life in hiding with her family in Amsterdam before they were discovered and sent to perish in Nazi concentration camps, as did six million other Jews, gays, gypsies and political prisoners. Pictured right, Anne Frank (Image:AFF Basel CH/AFS Amsterdam NL)
It includes a replica of Anne Frank’s room where she wrote her diaries before her capture, right.
She has inspired ordinary people and world leaders down the years and the diaries are more relevant than ever, according to Anne Snelgrove. “World War II is receding into the past, but we must never ever forget what happened to millions of people who were persecuted and killed because of their race, religion or colour.
“Anne Frank+You asks us to consider where do we all stand in relation to the holocaust and all the other terrible examples of repression we have witnessed in the last 60 years. But it’s not all about what takes place in other countries which we witness from a distance on TV. The exhibition confronts discrimination and how we include people in this country, issues like bullying, community cohesion and the importance of democracy. The messages from Anne Frank’s diaries still resonate strongly.”
Anne Frank+You is closely related to many aspects of the national curriculum and to ensure that every Swindon child is able to get the most from their visit, Anne Snelgrove is visiting businesses in the town to raise £25,000 to cover the cost of staging the exhibition, hiring the space and transport. She is working closely with a small group of organisers and is supported by North Swindon MP Michael Wills and Swindon Council leader Rod Bluh.
Anne Frank+You will also be open to the public and the organisers will be calling for volunteers to assist in putting it on later in the year.
The MP explained that she put in a bid for the exhibition to visit Swindon after a presentation last year in Parliament by the Anne Frank Trust UK. “I was very keen for it to come to Swindon during 2008 but it’s such a prestigious educational experience that we had to take our turn. I am very excited that the trust will be bringing Anne Frank+You to the town. It will give the people of Swindon the opportunity to share their thoughts on issues which are as relevant today as they ever were.”
Ann recently made a visit to Gaza with other MPs to meet the members of the Council of Arab British Understanding and see the effects of the almost total blockade of the Palesinian territory by Israel. She will be visiting the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland this summer.
The touring exhibition is put on by Anne Frank Trust UK in association with Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.
