arts & life

■

N O F THE ANNE F

exhibit

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H istory iuJa\

An international

exhibition on

Anne Frank comes

to Stratford,

Ontario.

ABOVE: "I want to go on liv-
ing, even after my death,"
wrote Anne Frank on April 4,
1944, four months before her
capture. (Anne is pictured on
the left, and with her fam-
ily, on the right) BELOW: The
exhibit features photographs,
excerpts from Anne's diary,
letters and more.

Anne Frank: A History
for Today continues

through Oct. 12 at the
Stratford Perth Museum
in Ontario. Exhibit tickets
start at $3.40. Individual
speaker tickets cost
$15. (519) 393-5311;
stratfordperthmuseum.ca .

I

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer

A

nne Franks courageous
story of hiding from the
Nazis is forging strong
artistic partnerships in Canada this
summer.
While the Stratford Festival is
staging The Diary of Anne Frank,
the Stratford Perth Museum is
showcasing Anne Frank: A History
for Today, a customized exhibi-
tion to be enhanced by a series of
speakers.
The core exhibition, designed
by Julie Couture of the Anne Frank
House in Amsterdam and running
through Oct 12, includes 16 panels
of photos and narration that honor
Anne Frank, as well as Canadian
soldiers who liberated her home
country of Holland in 1945.
To give the display a more
personal connection to the times,
artifacts have been borrowed from
the Montreal Memorial Holocaust
Center. Items found in concentra-
tion camps — eyeglasses, combs,
uniforms — will be included in the
exhibition.
"The theme of the exhibition is
that the philosophies and messages
learned from Anne Frank are very
relevant today:' says John Kastner,
general manager of the Stratford

PHOTO COLLECTION OF THE ANNE FRANK STICHTING (AMSTERDAM)

Perth Museum. "Things happening
on the other side of the world do
impact us.
"When we look at current large
problems involving religious
persecution and genocide, we see
the importance of her messages
of understanding and tolerance.
We also see the importance of the
messages at the levels of individual
persecution and bullying:'
Since 1985, traveling exhibi-
tions developed by the Anne Frank
House have been shown in more
than 80 countries.
"It's through Anne Frank's story
that we can best understand the
impact historical events have on a
personal life says Couture, coor-
dinator of Canadian educational
projects at the Anne Frank House.
"Visitors and school groups will
be invited through this exhibi-
tion to remember major events
of World War II, both in Canada
and Europe, and to reflect on the
relevancy of this history in today's
society:"
Kastner explains that the Perth
Regiment, from the Stratford area,
was a significant historic regiment
in the Canadian army.
As a result of that, during the
migratory period at the end of the
war, there was a great influx of
migration from Holland, and this

area ended up with a great number
of Dutch immigrants; Kastner
says. "Perth County has 77,000
residents — that includes the city
of Stratford — and 8,000 consider
themselves to be of Dutch origin.
That's 10 percent of the county:"
The range of issues associated
with Anne Frank and her times
will be explored by five speakers:
■On July 5, Tine Buechler,
Stratford resident and family his-
torian, will recall how her Dutch
grandparents hid Jews from the
Nazis and came to be featured in
the book The Rescuers.
■Author Claire Baum, born
in Rotterdam and immigrated to
Canada, will be at the podium on
July 23 to talk about her experienc-
es being hidden by a family friend
recalled in her book, The Hidden

Package.
■Len Rudner, director for com-
munity relations at the Canadian
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs,
will address visitors on Aug. 5.
He has represented the Jewish
community on a variety of issues,
including Holocaust denial, and
has participated in a Stratford
Festival forum on the topic of The
Merchant of Venice.
■Sara Farb will visit on Aug.
16 to discuss her title role in the
Stratford Festival play. "I'm excited

that the exhibit is happening at the
same time as the play," says Farb,
whose grandmother and great-
grandmother were survivors. "I
have been waiting [to see what will
be on view]:'
■ Jason Schwartz, author and
photographer of The Ghosts That
Haunt Us, has been represented
in his photography exhibition,

Portraits of Holocaust Survivors,
and will discuss that project on
Sept 24.
This is the second consecutive
major exhibit that coordinates
the museum with the Stratford
Festival. Last year, in marking the
450th anniversary of Shakespeare's
birth, the museum hosted a show-
ing of the writer's First Folio, a 1623
publication of 36 Shakespeare plays
on loan from the Thomas Fisher
Rare Book Library at the University
of Toronto.
"There's a 20-minute film in
English that comes from the Anne
Frank House Kastner says. "We
have a theater space set up for
the film, which is a prequel to the
exhibit. It's suggested for the guided
tours, and it will loop for others:'
At the end of July, the Dutch
Nightingales, a traveling youth
choir, will be giving two concerts
— both presented in Dutch — at
the museum.

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