Free Anne Frank Exhibit Involves Community-Wide Events

In Fayetteville from March 18, 2013, through April 21, 2013, the Arts Council, in partnership with the National-International Cultural Heritage Group, will present two exhibits:

• Anne Frank: A History for Today
• Art and Propaganda in Nazi-Occupied Holland

These exhibits – on loan from The Anne Frank Center USA – promise to provide a visceral experience to visitors and will include guided docent tours for schools and the public. The exhibits will serve as a springboard for community dialogue about the effects of intolerance in the past and today, and provide an opportunity to address the positive values of diversity and tolerance.

For these exhibits, the galleries are open for free 7 days a week:

Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m. to Noon
Saturday and Sunday: Noon to 4 p.m.

An on-site bookstore featuring materials related to these exhibits is also available to visitors.

Anne Frank: A History for Today

This exhibit centers around the life of Anne Frank. Visitors learn about the Holocaust through the perspective of Anne Frank and her family and the historical events that governed their lives.

In particular, the exhibit introduces visitors to the history of World War I and World War II. The enormity of the government-sponsored killings of Jews, Gypsies, disabled persons, Slavs and other "undesirables" is shown. The importance of individual action – then and now – is a key component of the exhibit. Emphasis is placed on the distinction between individuals who chose to join the Nazi Party and become perpetrators, those who remained bystanders, and the select few who resisted Nazi tyranny.

Anne Frank: A History for Today encourages visitors to learn more about scapegoating, anti-Semitism, racism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide as well as human rights, democracy, and conflict resolution.

The exhibit challenges visitors to engage with current events and to take an active role in their communities and government. The final exhibition panel tells the stories of ordinary persons, from all walks of life, who have experienced racism, intolerance, and discrimination on a daily basis. These stories allow visitors to question how differences between individuals are addressed and inspire visitors to work toward a more just, inclusive society.

Art and Propaganda in Nazi-Occupied Holland

This vivid exhibit on Dutch Resistance Art and Official Propaganda during the period 1940-1945 is based on three collections: 8 original propaganda posters distributed by the Nazi-controlled Dutch government; 21 linoleum and woodcut prints by Marie de Zaaijer, which depict the suffering and hardship Holland endured during the war; and several original drawings by the Dutch artist Henri Pieck, created during the artist’s internment at Buchenwald concentration camp.

Together, the artworks convey the Nazi oppression that enveloped Holland and its citizens during the occupation. The text and images in the propaganda posters encourage the Dutch population to support the "heroic" struggle of the German Wehrmacht against the dark forces of Bolshevism. Other posters warn the population of the "treacherousness" of the American and British air forces, which are supposedly indiscriminant between soldiers and civilians during bombing raids. Significantly, the prints were presented to H.M. Queen Wilhelmina in January 1946 accompanied by a handwritten explanation by the artist Ms. de Zaaijer.

During the war, Henri Pieck was active as a militant communist and member of the Dutch Resistance. His sketches from Buchenwald evoke the horror associated with the Nazi concentration camps, including forced labor, starvation, freezing cold and inhumane treatment.

--Media Release provided by the Arts Council, Fayetteville