Anne Frank’s birthday – Remembering her legacy at USC Anne Frank Center

Over at the Anne Frank Center, educators say the exhibit brings her story to life and educates visitors about discrimination while also inspiring them to stand up against hate and inequality.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – Today marks the anniversary of Anne Frank’s birthday.  The Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina is the official and only U.S. partner of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in North America.  

USC graduate Sam Livoti is a volunteer tour guide at the University’s Anne Frank Center. She considers it an honor to tell Frank’s story: a Jewish girl living in the Netherlands during World War II.

“She was persecuted against and she goes into hiding to hide from the Nazis and their henchmen and then she is actually arrested and found out . . and unfortunately she is murdered at the age of 15,” says Livoti. 

Livoti says Frank’s writings include many details that are not seen in letters from the Holocaust, a time of unfairness, fear, and a horrific number of deaths.

“I think it’s hard to imagine that 6 million number tangibly, that’s a lot of people,” says Livoti. 

The exhibit aims to educate others on the dangers of hate. 

“History has an influence – the Jim Crow laws being kind of an inspiration almost for the Nuremberg Racial Laws during the Nazi regime,” says Livoti. 

Sam says hate is all too visible today and events like the Holocaust serve as a warning as to what it can lead to if not stopped. She hopes those who tour the exhibit understand the difference between an upstander and a bystander. “An upstander is someone who wants to help even if it is difficult or there are risk involved they’re going to do that. Bystanders are people who sit back and let these things happen” 

As we reflect on Frank’s legacy, Sam says there is a simple lesson. “We can learn from anne to be good. be a good person it’s really that simple and stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves.”