Teaching Anne Frank and Other Difficult Life Stories

This volume, grounded in the ＂Diary of a Young Girl＂ and its continued appeal to readers of all ages, sees promise in the relevance of Anne Frank’s story in the 21st century, and potential for new ways of teaching her story and those of other genocides and human right violations. Drawing connections from Anne Frank with these other cases clarifies the distinct nature of the Holocaust, and we build on the fact that the diary touches areas of deep interest, especially to young people, and that it has been read as a monument to resisting hate, which is itself a prerequisite for educating citizens of more diverse and inclusive societies. The diverse contributors to this volume illustrate how rich the ongoing engagement with Anne Frank and her legacy remain.

Waltraud Maierhofer is Professor of German and Global Health Studies at the University of Iowa. Her recent research and teaching address representations of reproductive and disability rights in German and global fiction and film. She’s received Alexander von Humboldt awards and translated The Child Witches of Lucerne and Buchau (2022) by Swiss novelist Eveline Hasler.

Kirsten Kumpf Baele is the Anne Frank Initiative director and Associate Professor of Instruction in German at the University of Iowa. Her teaching and scholarship address youth agency, trees in the arts, and contested spaces. She is preparing a chapter for Homecoming Veterans in Literature and Culture: Comparative and Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge-Warwick).

Doyle Stevick is the Executive Director at the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. He was a Fulbright scholar to Estonia in 2003 and 2013-14 and has co-edited two books on citizenship education and three books about Holocaust education around the world.

Kirsten, I have changed this because there will be no Dept. of German when the book comes out. Okay?