To brighter days ahead

Dear Friends,

While 2020 has been a tumultuous year that we are eager to put behind us, we cannot help but look back and be grateful. We admire the way educators and families have adapted and we've been touched by the outpouring of support communities have shown one another.

Within the Holocaust educator community, we have witnessed professional partnerships bloom and generous support from all of you as we pivoted to virtual programming. On the global stage, we saw a social media giant finally choose be on the right side of history and expand their policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust. These waves happened in the wake of your courageous response to our 2018 Change.org petition calling for Facebook to remove Holocaust Denial pages from its platform.

This year also brought a new wave of interest in Anne and her Diary. While COVID-19 is a tragedy, it is not Nazism, thank goodness, but that did not stop millions of people from rediscovering Anne’s remarkable insight and wisdom and finding consolation and inspiration in her words. This coming year, we are bringing our theater and educational programs to communities in schools virtually, and we can’t wait to see you again in person.

This has also been an important year for the organization. We want to thank Peter Rapaport for his many years of leadership of the Board of Directors; his generosity with his time, energies, advice and philanthropy have been indispensable for the organization over the last six years, and we are all grateful that he will continue to serve on the Board.

We are also delighted to welcome Jonathan Cohen as the new Chair of the Board. Jonathan is a second generation member of the Board, succeeding his father, Steven Cohen, and has been part of the Anne Frank Center community since he was a boy several decades ago. Jonathan brings a passion for writing and education to the position, so please keep an eye out for updates as we begin 2021!