In this 1976 clip from the long-running BBC children’s show Blue Peter, the UK presenter Valerie Singleton travels to the now-famous Amsterdam house where the teenage Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution in a secret annex alongside seven other Jews, including her immediate family. The UK presenter Lesley Judd then interviews Anne’s father, Otto Frank, who was the only person hiding in the annex who survived the Holocaust. In conversation, he discusses how his daughter’s diary came to be, his decision to publish it, and what he learned about Anne after her death through her written words.
While impactful for viewers of any age, the archival clip draws out how Anne Frank’s story continues to be an important way to teach young people about the Second World War and the horrors of the Holocaust, personalising the unfathomable magnitude of the tragedy via her powerful story, eloquent words and relatable worldview. It also highlights the gentle, enduring heroism of Otto Frank, whose decision to carry on his daughter’s voice into the future, beyond her all-too-few years on Earth, continues to reverberate long past his own death in 1980.
