How a 13 Year-old Girl's Diary Inspires Young People to Challenge Prejudice

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Last week I attended the Anne Frank Trust’s Annual Lunch for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026.
Candle-lighters at the Anne Frank Trust
Holocaust Memorial Day lunch, 2026.
If you haven’t heard of this excellen charity before, the first thing you should know is that while it’s inspired by one of the most well-known victims of the Jewish holocaust, it aims to educate and empower young people to challenge all forms of prejudice, not just antisemitism. In a moving candle-lighting ceremony, we heard the stories of a survivor of the Cambodian genocide and a young Ukrainian refugee, as well as a holocaust survivor and – perhaps most poignantly, because so immediate – the widow of one of the two men who died in the recent Manchester synagogue attack.
Anne Frank photographed at school, Joods Lyceum, December 1941, six months before
going into hiding with her family, July 1942. By Anonymous - http://www.annefrank.org/nl/
Anne-Frank/De-nazis-bezetten-Nederland/Naar-het-Joods-Lyceum/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68542166






And behind the stage, a huge image of Anne herself looked down on all 600 people in the room, that famous smile full of hope and belief in the world pulling at the heartstrings, reminding us of her vital position as a role model for young people everywhere determined to make the world a better, kinder, fairer place. 

Now I have a confession to make. I have never read Anne Frank’s Diary. You’re meant to read it at school, right, in your early teens? Somehow it passed me by. Yes yes, of course I could catch up now and read it, but being an adult I know it won’t be the same. 

Which is why a few evenings ago, searching in vain for something – anything – to watch on television (how is it possible to have 80 or so channels now and NOTHING worth watching on any of them? Every day of the week? And yes, BBC, I’m including you), I started trawling through the films on BBC Iplayer and was thrilled to find The Diary of Anne Frank. 

I can thoroughly recommend it.
The Diary of Anne Frank, 1959 film.
By https://www.movieposters.com/products/
diary-of-anne-frank-b70-9352, Fair use,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=7058030
A 1959 George Stevens production, made in black and white, it starts somewhat slowly but is wonderfully acted, with a complicated set that brings to life the intense claustrophobia of 8 people living in that small, cluttered Amsterdam attic, not daring to move for 9 hours a day lest a floorboard creak, alerting workmen in the factory below to their presence. What I love is there’s never any idea that any of these people are heroes (though Otto Frank is impressive): they are ordinary, grumpy, snappy, impatient individuals who get on each other’s nerves from the start, but can also show generosity at times and a sense of fun (well, Anne can). 

It’s impossible to imagine how such a mixed group (two families and one single man) could cope with being cooped up together so long; at least, it feels impossible until you know your survival depends on it. There are chilling moments when a step on the stair makes everyone freeze… and I’m only half way through the film, still 90 minutes away from what will presumably be not a step, but a thundering of jackboots on
The Diary of Anne Frank
 the staircase, heralding the group’s discovery and deportation to Auschwitz, where most of them die. 

Not Otto Frank. Returning after liberation, grieving the total loss of his family, he finds the diary, from which his bubbly, mischievous, and - crucially - sharply observant younger daughter bursts from the pages. 

I really must read it now.




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