October 1, 2024

The Jewish High Holidays, which begin this week, are a time of reflection and renewal.

As the New Year approaches, we reflect upon the impact of the Anne Frank Center USA over the past year and renew our commitment to promoting Anne Frank's timeless message of hope to young people across the United States.

The Anne Frank Center USA has responded to the growing threat of antisemitic violence in the United States as we always do, through education. In March of 2024, we began to offer a new program for teachers, universities, and businesses that tells of 4000 years of exile and displacement of Jewish populations around the world. One participant remarked, “This gave me a whole new drive to learn as much as I can about other people I was not exposed to or taught about for 18 years of my life.”

We continued to offer theatrical performances for schools across the United States and to send teaching artists into classrooms to inspire creativity and bravery in young people with the story and words of Anne Frank, reaching more than 50,000 individuals in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

In October, we will join experts at the Eradicate Hate Global Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, bringing the perspective of hope to the global battle against extremism, hate, and bias. 

We would not be able to do our work without the support of our incredible donors and volunteers, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

To those observing the Jewish holidays, we wish you a good and sweet year. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Lauren Bairnsfather
CEO
Anne Frank Center USA

Learn more about Anne Frank Center USA

About Anne Frank Center USA
The Anne Frank Center USA traces its roots to the efforts of Otto Frank in the 1950s to raise funds to support the restoration of Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. He established the Anne Frank Foundation in New York as a fundraising organization dedicated to this purpose. The Anne Frank Foundation evolved into the Anne Frank Center USA, securing official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in New York in 1977. AFC USA, which is still based in New York, functions as a decentralized organization. This makes it possible for the organization to remain nimble and responsive in a rapidly changing world. Over the past year, programs of AFC USA have reached hundreds of thousands of students in twenty-two states and the District of Columbia.

About Anne Frank
Born on June 12, 1929, Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager from Frankfurt, Germany who was forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust. She and her family, along with four others, spent over two years during World War II hiding in an annex of rooms on Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, today known as the Anne Frank House. After being betrayed to the Nazis, Anne, her family, and the others living with them were arrested and deported to Nazi concentration camps. In March of 1945, seven months after she was arrested, Anne Frank died of typhus at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. She was fifteen years old.

About The Diary of a Young Girl
Since it was first published in 1947, Anne Frank's diary has become one of the most powerful memoirs of the Holocaust. Its message of courage and hope in the face of adversity has reached millions. The diary has been translated into more than 70 languages with over 30 million copies sold. Anne Frank's story is especially meaningful to young people today. For many she is their first, if not their only exposure to the history of the Holocaust.

Sapling Project History
The Sapling Project began in 2009 with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam’s efforts to preserve the original chestnut tree by gathering and germinating chestnuts and donating the saplings to organizations dedicated to Anne Frank’s memory.

Despite efforts to strengthen the original chestnut tree, the aged, diseased tree toppled in a windstorm in 2010. It was one of the oldest chestnut trees in Amsterdam.

Over the last 10 years, Anne Frank Center USA has awarded saplings to sites across the United States, including the U.S. Capitol, the United Nations Headquarters, and others. Taken together, these trees form a living memorial with branches reaching from coast to coast.