A month-long
exploration of the
Holocaust and
what it means to
us today is taking
place on the Flint
Cultural Center
Campus.

t is home to fewer than
3,000 Jews and only
three synagogues, but that
hasn't stopped Flint from
hosting a month-long series
of events commemorating
the Holocaust.
Of course, as Flint
Cultural Center CEO
Larry Thompson points out,
the Holocaust is more than just a
Jewish issue. 'We want to make
sure the community understands
the history of the Holocaust and
the implications for today," he
said. "It's not just a Jewish thing;
it's a human thing about our re-
lationships with one another and
how we treat each other."
The Flint Cultural Center and
the Flint Jewish Federation have
been working together for over a
year to create "Anne Frank & Us:
Insights Into Cruelty, Discrimi-
nation and Hope." All the institu-
tions affiliated with the Flint
Cultural Center will be partici-

.

pating, and events include lec-
tures, art exhibits, historical ex-
hibits, a film series and a play.
According to Susan Wasser-
man, associate executive director
for Jewish Family and Children's
Services, the project grew out of a
planned production ofAnne Frank
& Me, a children's play about the

from the collaborative efforts of the
Flint Jewish Federation and the
numerous institutions that com-
prise the Flint Cultural Center.
Both the Flint Cultural Center
and the federation hope to draw
in visitors from all over Michigan,
and they are also working to in-
volve schoolchildren from the Flint
area.
"Part of the project involves tak-
ing children to see the exhibits,"
said Ms. Wasserman, adding that
over 60 Flint teachers participat-
ed in a training day on the Holo-
caust and are receiving specially
designed curriculums on teaching
the Holocaust.
"It's been a nice community pro-
ject involving everybody," said Ms.
Wasserman. El

Holocaust. 'We started with talk-
ing about working with the Flint
Youth Theater to do the play; then
it started to grow," said Ms.
Wasserman.
"It wasn't started with the de-
sign of being this big," said Mr.
Thompson, who attributed the
growth to the "synergy" created

e

"Anne Frank & Us" runs
through May 25. For a com-
plete listing of events, call (810)
760-1097, or toll free 1-888-8-
CENTER.

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Best Friends

The "Jopie" of Anne Frank's diary shares her memories.

JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER

acqueline Van Maarsen
knew about Anne
Frank's diary before
even the first page had
been filled. Anne's best friend at
the time, Mrs. Van Maarsen was
at the birthday party in which
Anne received the blank book.
Mrs. Van Maarsen---referred
to by her nickname, "Jopie," in.
Anne's diary—I:net Anne in 1941
when the Nazi occupiers of the
Netherlands forbid Jews from
attending regular schools, forc-
ing them to attend a Jewish high
school. "The first day of school
we met, and we were friends un-

j

til she went into hiding," said and remained in Amsterdam
Mrs. Van Maarsen, who still throughout the war.
lives in Amsterdam.
But her father's brothers and
When Anne and her family sisters all perished. "I saw every:
went into hiding in 1942, Mrs. thing from very close," she said
Van Maarsen did not know "All my Jewish friends and fain
what had happened. "They sud ily disappeared."
denly disappeared," she said
After the war, Mrs. Van
"We thought they went into Maarsen learned what had hap-
Switzerland because they left a pened to the Frank family from
message with a Swiss address." Anne's father, Otto Frank, the
Mrs. Van Maarsen was one sole survivor. Mr. Frank
of the few of her class-
showed pieces of the
mates at the Jewish Jacqueline Van
diary to Mrs. Van
high school who stir- Maarsen: "Jopie"
Maarsen, then sent
vived the Holocaust. "I was at the birthday her the galleys before
was Jewish in the first Party during which publication.
half of the war, and in Anne received her
"It was a very
the second half not Jew- blank diary.
strange feeling," she
ish," she said "My moth
said of the first time
er had become Jewish by she read the> diary. "She had
marriage, and the moment she written about me in her diary,
understood her daughters were and I didn't like it to be pub-
in danger, she went to the Ger- fished. At the time, I didn't know
mans and told them her daugh- the use of it; I was just a young
ters were not Jewish by birth." girl."
Because her mother was
Although Mrs. Van Maarsen
French, proving her ancestry to was uncomfortable with the
the Germans took several years 1995 publication of amore corn-
and required extensive paper- prehensive edition of the diary,
work from France. In the which contained passages Mr.
end, Mrs. Van Maarsen and her Frank had originally omitted,
family were classified as Aryans she feels it was necessary to

prove the diary's authenticity. "I
don't like it all to be published,
but it was necessary because of
the neo-Nazis who claimed
[Anne] didn't write it herself"
Mrs. Van Maarsen now iden
tifies as Jewish, and her hus
band, Ruud, whom she met after
the war, was a. hidden child dur-
ing the Holocaust. Unlike Anne
Frank who hid with her family,
he was separated from his rela-
tives and lived with a gentile
family.
After her book, My Friend
Anne Frank, was published last
year, Mrs. Van Maarsen began
traveling and lecturing. "Tm not
so much a traveling kind, but I
think it's very important to talk
about the Holocaust," she said,
adding that "Anne is a symbol
now, but these things really hap-
pened." CI

*a' Jacqueline Van Maarsen
will be leading a public lec-
ture and discussion at Bower
Theater on Thursday, May 8,
at 7:30 p.m. She will be sign-
ing books at Flint's Borders
Books on Wednesday, May 7,
from 4-5 p.m.