Anne Frank Memorial

As part of our Anne Frank unit, we had to either design a memorial for Anne Frank or create a commercial that would spread her message to everyone. My teammates and I decided to design a memorial. Below, is a description of it, reasons why we used the objects we used, who did what and the ESLR’s that we completed.

Light is all you can see when you enter the memorial and cautiously step onto the moving travelator disguised as a railway line. Far away in the distance, you can hear the faint noises of moving trains and horns. Then suddenly, pictures before the Holocaust appear on your left and a few precious moments of Anne Frank’s life before the dilemma appears on your right. As you gaze at these pictures and listen to the calm uplifting music, the corridor in which you are passing tightens, the light disappears, shadows fall upon you and you can distinctly here Hitler’s voice making a speech just inches from your ear. You look around but everything is covered in darkness. Soon, Hitler’s voice dies down and the marching sound of soldiers can be heard. Suddenly, you see a small light up ahead. As you reach this light, you realize that it is a spotlight on a can, filled with the gas used in gas chambers and another light is on a small model of a bed in the camp. Between these two is a wall screen, projecting pictures of people being taken away from their homes and put into trains. There is also a timeline about the Holocaust and what happened during Hitler’s reign. The train sounds get louder but you are stopped in your tracks. On your right, is a timeline about Anne Frank’s life. You are allowed to leave the travelator and wander around the place, however, you have to finish your journey.

All of a sudden, as you continue, the corridor opens up into a large circular room that is intentionally split in half. On one side, is a curved wall filled with pictures from a concentration camp in Germany, a PowerPoint presentation on how the war affected everyone in Europe and halfway is a door leading to another room. Enter this room and you will see eight touch screens, each showing a different camp in
Germany and you are able to walk through each one with a running documentary. On the other hand, the other side has seven pictures of the seven people who hid in the Secret Annex for two years and their helpers from the outside. The other side also has a separate room with eight touch screens as well. These eight touch screens take you through the Secret Annex and the different rooms in it, with written information. After visiting all this, you step onto the ‘railway line’ and leave the room. In a little while, the travelator splits into two and you choose your path. The left takes you through a corridor with wall screens depicting the aftermath of the Holocaust and the thousands that died. The place is very bright and the music is peaceful yet sad. A sense of respect and awe fills over you as you see the many brave people who stood up for their religion. Take the other path and you also feel the similar emotions. It is bright in there too and the music is the same. The wall screens explain what happened to Anne Frank and the six others who hid in the Secret Annex. If you wish, there are corridors leading back to the split of the travelator and you may take the other path. Both the paths lead back to a room that is filled with sunlight and electrical light. In the middle, on a pedestal, is a picture of the Diary of Anne Frank and several pages from within. There are two windows on either side, a little higher than usual and an open glass window on the roof. The walls have different quotes from her diary such as “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death.” Once everyone has seen them, the light dims down and the doors are closed. Spotlights come on and beautiful white doves are released from the two windows and they leave the room through the open window on top. The room has a dramatic yet tranquil music and a voice says these words, “Anne Frank always wanted to live on even after her death…her wish has come true. Her diary was discovered and now it has become the second most read book. She has carried on living, not only through her diary but also through each and every one of us. Remember that Anne Frank was only one voice among millions.” A door opens in front and everyone is allowed to leave. Outside, there is a shop where people can buy the book, The Diary of Anne Frank and various quotes from her diary engraved on a framed piece of paper.

Images, Sounds and Symbols

We used various sounds, images and symbols to stir emotions in this memorial. The sounds we used were: sad, dramatic, uplifting, calm, Hitler’s speech, trains, soldiers marching and a sound achieved from nature would be the chirping of the doves. The speech made by Hitler, trains and soldiers marching were used to create a sense of fear and anger because we wanted the people to feel how it was like to be in that depressing situation which the Jews had no control over. The sad and calm sounds were used to create sadness among the people but still make them realize that Anne Frank, a 13 year old child, was able to face this traumatic time with a positive reaction. The uplifting sounds were used for a sense of happiness and order before the Holocaust and a sense of relief after the issue ended. The dramatic sounds were mainly used only for the doves because we wanted the audience to pay attention to the doves. The chirping of the doves was used to create a sense of hope for the audience.

The images we used would fall into many categories: before the Holocaust, during the Holocaust, after the Holocaust, the Secret Annex, Anne Frank’s happy moments and the seven who hid in the Secret Annex. The images from before the Holocaust and Anne Frank’s happy moments showed how all was good in life and everything was in order. The images of during the Holocaust, the Secret Annex and the seven who hid in the Secret Annex, was meant to show how one person was able to change the lives of millions because of his dislike for that particular race. People were forced to change their lifestyle in order to save themselves and their families. The pictures depicting the aftermath of the Holocaust showed how the Holocaust had changed
Europe and the lives of people forever. The people who survived were scarred for life and millions lost their lives.

The Symbols we used were the gas cans, the duplicate of a bed at the camp, the travelator disguised as a railway line, the doves and the open windows. The gas cans and the bed at the camp symbolized the torture and pain at the camp while the moving railway line symbolized the seemingly never-ending journey that the Jews had to go through. It also symbolized the anticipation and fear that the people had to face. The open windows implied the ideas of freedom and hope that Anne Frank had and the doves signified hope as well. Another reason the doves were symbols was because they hopefully told everyone that if a young 13 year old girl can remain hopeful during the Holocaust, then why can’t we be hopeful and think positively during our daily lives.

Which is the most powerful? We would say that the sounds and music in the memorial is the most powerful. This is because, nowadays, music is a very important aspect of everyone’s life, so therefore, listening to music would spread the effect we wanted everyone to have. Music is very powerful also due to the fact that no one can stop themselves from hearing it. People can choose not to look at pictures or symbols but no one can prevent themselves from listening to music.

Please realize that this memorial is for all ages. The older ones, however, may find the Holocaust and pictures too gory, so we designed the place in such a way that the people are allowed to choose which side interests them the most: the information about the Holocaust or Anne Frank’s life during these stressful times.

ESLRs

For this project, we completed many Expected Schoolwide Learning Results (ESLRs). This project basically covered all the required ESLRs such as, Critical Thinker, Academic Achiever, Involved Citizen, Effective Communicator and Self-Directed Learner.

Critical Thinker: We managed to accomplish this ESLR because we used information from various sources, such as the internet and one main book and solved problems using a variety of strategies. One example of this would be when we had a PowerPoint presentation and didn’t know how to fit it into the project. Eventually, we altered our memorial and made space to place the presentation.

Academic Achievers: We did this ESLR by accessing information from a variety of sources. We gained knowledge from the diary of Anne Frank and found information from the internet.

Self-Directed Learners: We accepted the responsibility for our own learning by realizing that in order to accomplish this project we needed to get the information for ourselves. We took creative risks to develop untried ideas and demonstrated competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. We did this by trying different ideas for the memorial and setting time goals to complete this project.

Involved Citizens: We achieved this ESLR by trying to improve other people’s lives by designing this memorial. We wanted others to know what happened during the Holocaust and learn a lesson from a simple girl that would make them a better person.

Effective Communicator: We were effective communicators because we demonstrated out creative talents to convey ideas by excelling in the task we were given. Fred used his good knowledge of computers, Honoka used her artistic talents and I used my good writing skills. We listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight by asking questions when we didn’t understand the other person’s thoughts about the plan of the project. We collaborated with each other to achieve goals by coming to a compromise in order to finish the project. We conveyed information through visual and written sense by creating a blueprint of the memorial, the PowerPoint presentation and writing the required information. Finally we demonstrated awareness of the role of the audience by realizing that some of the people that would come to the memorial may find the pictures too gory, so we separated the memorial.

Who Did What?

This project was quite complex and due to the time restraint, we had to divide the work equally among the three of us. Our team managed to complete the project and we are extremely proud of ourselves. After deciding what to do, all three of us sat down together and jointly came up with the creative ideas and excellent plans. Honoka and I (Arathi), planned out the memorial and Fred designed the short movie on a PowerPoint document. Although we planned separately, we still advised each other and took the comments into consideration. Afterwards, when the real work began, Honoka worked on the blueprint of the memorial and Fred completed the PowerPoint presentation and wrote a description explaining it. Finally, I did the write-up: the description, the reasons, the ESLRs and who did what. Honoka and Fred were very efficient in completely their tasks and the final outcome is really good. I also believe that I did a good job of completing my task as well. We believe that this project was very interesting, partly because it allowed us to openly express our ideas and partly because it meant working with others and collaborating with them. Thank You Mr. R for this interesting project!

Movie:

Who would ever think that so much can go on in the soul of a young girl?

I think a lot of adults, including teachers, don’t really understand what young adults are thinking. In my opinion, some of adults think that I am not taking things very seriously. Maybe I seem like if I am some kind of crazy person. However, the truth is there are many things that surround me in school, at home, at anywhere. I take those things seriously, but parents or even teachers don’t realize that. Sometimes teachers seem like if they know who I am but you can’t say that what you see is the truth about me. I can have problems and thoughts going on in my head non stop. These things drive me crazy.

I can say same thing about friends too. The friends look like if they understand me, but they don’t understand as much as they think. So parents or teachers would not think that huge thoughts are going on in my world. I think your friends would not expect that too even though they may be having same thoughts going on in their world. What I am saying is that I think no one -even your friends- won’t think that there are huge things going on in me. If people of same age cannot understand me, then it is very hard to let parents and teachers understand me. They have had days that they have problems, but they seem to forgotten about all the things that happened before. They also had same things going on like I do right now, but what they do is forget about things that they did when they were my age and say things like “You should not do that.”

However, you can say that grownups sometimes understand us more than anything. Sometimes parents or teachers understand us better than ourselves. That is maybe they still remember similar situation that they had even though they forgot almost everything that they did. This sounds weird, because I said that parents and teachers have forgotten everything they did. While this seems true to me, I also think that they have not forgotten every single situation that they had.

Meanwhile, I can have friends who understand me because they have same situation. I think that doesn’t happen that often, but id it did, that is great. Then I am able to solve problem with those friends. On the other hand, I can have possibilities of having friends who had experienced situation that I have right now.

Therefore, it is very hard say that “no one would ever think that so much can go on in the soul of a young person.” Some adult will remember few or more things that they did in the past. My friends can be in the same situation or was in the same situation. If you look around and talk to people close to you, maybe there will be parents, teachers or friends that understand you. So overall, I agree with Anne but at the same time, I have my opinion that someone can understand or think that a lot of things are going on in young person’s soul.

I made a new page called “Links”.

There are links about Anne Frank, World War II, and Adolf Hitler.

You can use and check it any time you want.

Have fun with it!

I re-read diary of Saturday 7^th November (page 43-46) again at home. When I started to read what Anne wrote in her diary, I thought sometimes same thing happens to me too. I have a younger sister and if she started to read my book without permission like Anne, I will be very angry like Anne’s sister, Margot. It is same for my sister too. If I started to read my sister’s book without permission, she will be angry like me. When Anne’s father said “I’d like to see what you’d say if Margot ever started looking at one of your books,” I agreed with her father. As I said at the beginning, I would be annoyed by my sister if I were in same situation. That can also happen to my sister, but I can also agree with Anne who thought “It wasn’t right of Daddy to judge without knowing what the squabble was about.” It is not fair to person or people who were punished. I don’t think people like to be judged without knowing what happened. 

I can also see similarity in us, my sister and me, Anne and her sister. Anne says “We are exact opposites in everything” and I think my sister and I are exact opposite too. Sometimes we are similar, but most of the time we are opposite. Anne also says “so naturally we are bound to run up against each other.” It seems to be same that siblings almost always run up against each other. My sister and I almost always run up to each other. 

I disagree with Anne when she talks about her mother and being her own mother. In that part, Anne says “I have in my mind’s eye an image of what a perfect mother and wife should be,” but I don’t think Anne or her mother can be “perfect” and I don’t think that anyone can be the mother or wife that many people imagine. Anne also says “I want to see good side of her and to seek in myself what I cannot find in her.” I say that it is impossible to just look at people’s good side, and just forget about bad side. There is always good side and bad side facing each other like you looking yourself in the mirror. 

I thought that a lot of adult decide teenagers just looking at our appearance to others. I think a lot of people doesn’t look at inside; they just think that inside is same as outside, the appearance to others. I think that is why Anne says “One day Anne is so sensible and is allowed to know everything; and the next day I hear that Anne is just a silly little goat who doesn’t know anything at all and imagines that she’d learned a wonderful lot from books” in her entry on November 7^th 1942. I am not sure if adults near me say things like that, but I think it is true that adults say a lot of thing like that. There are thoughts about “I am not baby” in my mind if adults say thing like “You are silly little goat who doesn’t know anything.” However, on the other side, there are some thoughts like “maybe they are worrying about me” or “maybe it is important thing to know” in my mind. Overall, I agree with Anne for most of the things, but there are few things that I can’t agree with her.

In my English class, we started to read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. In the book, Anne mentions about which items she packed in one school bag. Imagine yourself in situation like this. What would you bring with you? You don’t know where you are going. If I am in this situation, first thing that I will put are some photos or album, because I think photos or albums are the greatest thing that reminds you with those memories that you have forgotten. The second thing that I will put is notebooks. These are for me to write or draw anything. These will be used for anything like diary, sketchbook, etc. I will also put pens too, so I can write in my notebooks. The next things that I will put are books. There are about 4 and more books that I love. These books will be used to read if I feel bored. I will also want to bring camera to take pictures. I will put my watch too, because my watch is something that my mother bought for me in
Singapore and I don’t want to forget about it. Sixth thing that I will bring will be necklace that my friend gave to me. She is my close friend that I can trust her very much. Seventh things that I am going to bring are my teddy bears, because they are very important to me. The last thing that I will bring will be most favorite magazine that I bought. I will bring that magazine because in the magazine, there will be things that I love and it can always remind what those things looked like so that I won’t forget. These are all the things that I will bring, and things that are very important to me.

Pictures:

       

Courageous means trying something that is very difficult, dangerous and frightening thing to me. In the dictionary, I think the meaning will be something like being brave or showing courage, but I believe that courageous means more than that. However, in my opinion any one can be a courageous person. The reason is because to me, going into haunted house is a very difficult, dangerous, and frightening thing to do even if it is easy and boring thing to do to other person. If I am going into haunted house, that means I am being a courageous person. To be courageous can also mean sitting alone in the room, having fear about death, it can be anything. I think facing to something that is very difficult equals to you are being courageous. These are all my opinion about meanings of courageous so I think everyone has different opinions or beliefs about it. Overall, I think courageous means to try and face something that is very difficult, dangerous, and frightening.