Great Neck North High School students met with Queen Máxima of the Netherlands at the Anne Frank The Exhibit at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, where they expanded their knowledge of the young Jewish diarist and the history of the Holocaust.
“The students were articulate and asked her thoughtful questions about the history of Anne Frank in the Netherlands and how her legacy is preserved,” North High School Principal Dan Holtzman said. “The queen acknowledged how impressive our students were and showed her gratitude for the time spent together.”
The exhibit, located in Manhattan’s Union Square at 15 West 16th St., details the life of Frank, a young German-born Jewish girl whose diary detailed the atrocities of Nazi occupation.
The exhibit includes a replica of the annex where Frank and her family were hidden in the Netherlands and where her diary was written. Frank was hidden there for two years alongside her parents, sister and four other Jewish people.
The exhibit is the first to replicate the full-scale annex where Frank and her family were kept in the Netherlands, complete with accurate furnishings. It made history as the first to bring the experience outside of Amsterdam, where the original home is located.
The exhibit traces Frank’s entire life from 1929 to 1945, starting with her years in Frankfurt, Germany, the rise of the Nazi regime, her escape to Amsterdam, her two years living in hiding, and finally, her arrest and deportation to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany where she was killed at the age of 15.
Included in the exhibit are more than 100 original collection items from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, in tandem with videos, audio and photographs.
The intent of the exhibit is to present Frank not as a victim but as a young girl who persevered through unprecedented and challenging times.
But the exhibit expands beyond the life of Frank, also providing education on modern-day antisemitism, racism and discrimination that proceeded the Holocaust.
Great Neck students got the chance to explore the exhibit, walking through the steps of Frank’s life.
Queen Máxima was led on a tour by Executive Dirrector Ronald Leopold through the exhibit, which pays homage to the original museum based in her country. After touring the exhibit, she met with Great Neck students for a discussion on the exhibit.
The Manhattan exhibit brings the Anne Frank House, based in the Netherlands, to the United States for a limited time, but it was recently extended through October. The exhibit opened on Jan. 27 and sold out within a week, leading to the exhibition’s expansion to Oct. 31.
Holtzman thanked the Glickman family, who helped advise for the Anne Frank House and welcomed the Great Neck students to the exhibit.
