Lessons from Anne Frank
Reagan fifthgraders learn from Yuma play
If only the real Anne Frank could have felt the hugs her character received from fifth-graders Friday at Ronald Reagan Fundamental School.
“I think that some people can make a connection with the Anne character and some of the people playing it,” said fifth-grader Angel Gonzalez, who was one of about 60 students who viewed a short performance from “The Diary of Anne Frank” put on by Yuma Community Theater actors.
The students, who have been studying World War II and the genocide of Jews and others during Mussolini and Hitler’s reign of terror throughout Europe, all rushed to the stage after viewing part of a scene, and having a question and answer session with the actors portraying family members who lived in the Annex (or attic) in which the Franks and the Van Daans hid from Nazi police.
Fifth-grade teachers said in an email to the Yuma Sun that the play fits right in with what students are learning.
“We read ‘Number the Stars’ (By Lois Lowry) and then ‘Survivors, True Stories of Children in the Holocaust’ by Allan Zullo and Mara Bovsun,” said fifthgrade teacher Deb Childs.
Actors Jacqueline Garza (Anne Frank), Jairo Garcia II (Peter Van Daan), Daniela Ayala (Margot Frank), Melissa Raulerson (Edith Frank), Sam Cervantes (Otto Frank), Mark Henrikson (Mr. Van Daan) and Stage Manager Kaitlyn Seitz presented Act 1, Scene 2 of the play, when the two families meet for the first time.
One of the first things that happens after introductions, is Otto Frank lays out the rules, said Daniela Ayala after the conclusion of the scene. Rules, she said, which might today to be considered rather strict and absurd: no noise between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., and during the day no bathroom use, no radio, no walking in shoes, and no going outside. Ever.
“Have you ever lived in an attic with eight people and only one bathroom?” she asked students. “But they had to live their lives this way to survive.”
Student questions ranged from the simple “What’s in the box?” (answer: an impromptu cat carrier) and “Why is everyone so dressed up?” to the complex “Why was Peter so mean?” “Why was Anne so excited?” “Why didn’t they have…?” and eventually, the inevitable, “What happened to the families?”
Actors explained that Anne and her family were Jews who were in hiding, and that they could not bring anything with them that might arouse suspicion by the police or else they would be arrested and killed.
A hush settled over the room as Cervantes quietly explained that only Otto Frank survived, and that he was later given parts of his daughter’s diary that had been salvaged from the annex. It was printed in 1947, two years after Anne’s death at a concentration camp, according to the Anne Frank House (www. annefrank.org).
Estimates vary, but according to the The Simon Wiesenthal Center, nearly 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
About 13 million were killed altogether, including Christians, gypsies, the disabled and mentally challenged, among others, students said during an interview with the Yuma Sun after the presentation.
“You are a new generation,” said Raulerson, who portrays Edith Frank, “that needs to not let something like this happen again. We can’t erase the past, but we can learn from it.”
Student Sophia Daov said that she thought Jews and many others were unfairly discriminated against.
“The point of watching the play is to don’t judge someone and you can’t be cruel to someone just because they’re different from you,” she said.
Fifth-grade teacher Rawnee Swammi reminded students of the lesson on propaganda, which Hitler spread around the world, so that no country would give refuge to Jews.
Raulerson noted that “even at your age, you understand bullying.”
And that’s what Hitler was, Swammi noted, a big bully.
“Why do we learn history?” she asked students. The majority of students answered back: “So we don’t repeat it.”