DTCH1911: Anne Frank: Her Life and Legacy

To understand Anne Frank's symbolic status as a holocaust victim and object of identification for many young people in the world, one must know the context of her ethnic heritage, the uniqueness of her hiding situation, and the critical acclaim of her journal and its adaptations. This seminar examines the iconic text against the backdrop of the Netherlands under a civil administration during the Nazi occupation. From the perspective of the history of Jewish life in the Netherlands, the rise of antisemitism and the German exploitation of the Dutch bureaucracy for the purpose of persecution and deportation, Anne Frank will emerge as a particular case of victimization, one of many, and not as the universal example with sainthood status that she has become over time. To look at her from this perspective, however, will by no means undermine or devalue the legacy of her optimism and humanism for our world of today.

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