My kids and I have been reading a lot about Anne Frank lately – I was looking for photographs of her to show them, and came across one that just made my heart stop: Anne with her classmates at Montessori school, which she attended from 1933 to 1941.
For some reason I didn’t realize that Anne attended Montessori school, so this photograph really stunned me. I was looking at it and recognized all of the familiar Montessori materials, then read that she attended Montessori school. Her classroom looks exactly like the Montessori classrooms my kids are in and have been in – right down to the hamster habitat, the work the children are doing, the way the teacher is sitting amongst them, the simple, mostly unadorned walls, the plants, children sitting on the floor with their bead chains laid out, and all of the the familiar materials along the walls and on shelves.
This photo – it gutted me.
What happened to all of these children?
The story of Anne Frank has always moved me beyond belief, and yet this picture of her in her beloved Montessori classroom somehow re-shocked me. It made me see how similar her life was to my own children’s idyllic, peaceful lives – and yet how quickly it all changed. How quickly it all can change.
Recently, in California I saw a bumper sticker that I am going to track down and get: I’m already against the next war, and it hasn’t even started yet.
Some Quotes By Anne Frank
“How true Daddy’s words were when he said: all children must look after their own upbringing. Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” – Anne Frank
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” - Anne Frank
“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.” - Anne Frank
Click here to see a photographic timeline of Anne Frank’s life.
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I didn’t know that Anne Frank went to #Montessori school. I found a photo of her in her classroom, and it gutted me. http://t.co/cHiCk4kK
I’ve always been moved by her story, too. I almost dread the day my son reads her book, as I know it will tear him apart inside, as it has always done to me. His grandma is Jewish, from Poland, and most of her family was exterminated there. It’s all just too close to home, and then there’s the fact that this type of thing is still going on…. The picture is startling and moving. Thank you so much for posting it.
Oh, wow. My daughter goes to a Montessori school also, and it’s amazing how little they have changed. Powerful thought, and that bumper sticker sounds PERFECT.
Twitter: nystoopmama
Thanks Tracy. (-: PS: I’ll let you know if I ever find that bumper sticker.
That makes it all the more real, somehow, doesn’t it? Thinking about Anne walking down the street with her parent to her school – which is like so many schools our kids attend? Seeing the house in Amsterdam where they hid/lived does the same thing. It’s incredible. Horrifying.
Have you or your girls read Understood Betsy, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, from the early 20th century? Fisher wrote lots of great novels, but only a few for kids – she was also a translator of Montessori, and helped publicize/popularize Montessori’s teachings in the U.S.
Twitter: mannahattamamma
No I haven’t read or heard of Understood Betsy or Dorothy FIscher – ordering it now. Thanks Deborah.
PS: I went into the annex in Amsterdam once – although I have to say it wasn’t as “shocking’ to me a feeling as seeing Anne Frank in the Montessori classroom surrounded by all those happy children. For some reason it just totally got to me, still does.
Outlaw Mama here. This is so chilling. I am obsessed with Monressori. There is something so chilling about putting Anne in this context. Great post.
Hi Outlaw Mama aka Jeffrey. (-:
I am amazed I didn’t realize or know she had been in Montessori school – I’m obsessed with it too. It sort of explains her wisdom, her ability to continue her education despite being in hiding, her insightful writing. Wow. (Thanks.)
I read her diary years ago. Now that I know about the Montessori program and its results in all students I’ve met so far, not just my own child, I can understand how a child was able to express her incredible insights in such a mature and poignant fashion as Anne did. Thank you for sharing this bit of information.
I know some people from former fascist regimes who say the executive orders coming from the last two administrations with the “papers, please” and “see something, say something” mentality frighten them and they can’t believe we Americans are so accepting of some fascist ideas in our war against terror. NDAA chills them to the bone. Indeed it’s something to think about as we reflect on what DID happen to all those hopeful young children. Taking off people in secret with no due process has no place in an enlightened modern society, IMO.
V just got an American Girl Doll who is a Jewish girl in WWI era and we are starting to learn about the discrimination of Jews leading up ultimately to the Holocaust in WWII. Anne Frank’s story will be next for us, too, I think.
I agree – arresting and taking people off to jail for not having their papers sounds pretty scary.
So glad V. got an AG doll, Ella and V. can have playdates with them. Which one did she get?
One of my favourite books of all time…The Diary of Anne Frank. What a brave, wonderful little girl she was. Beyond her age really – quite possibly the Montessori influence.
But that photo is haunting….all those beautiful innocent faces. Breaks my heart.
Twitter: januarydawn1
One of my faves too January. And that photo *is* haunting. Especially since the classroom looks so similar to my children’s…it makes you think, really, how quickly things can change…
She got the Rebecca Rubin Doll from their historical line. She’s very happy with it.
Getting back to your topic, have you ever been to the Holocaust Museum in DC? It is a visit worth making when the girls are much older.
As horrific as the Holocaust in Europe was, I was shocked to learn the extent of the one in Asia, perpetrated on many different countries’ innocent civilians by the Japanese soldiers. Then the Americans did some equally shocking atrocities to the Japanese women and children in revenge. So, no sides emerged completely clean in the mass evil that is war . I wish we women could unite around the world and stop the madness. I’m tired of hearing about my sisters and our babies being the spoils of war.
Ironically though, I owe my existence to WWII. I guess you do, too. I don’t think my parents would have met, otherwise. It’s weird to think that there are probably many of us here today, because certain wars took place and brought together people who might not otherwise have left their countries and met. I guess that is one positive to take away from the whole ugly mess that is war.
BTW, tomorrow my mom will try to get her citizenship. She wants to move on and live out the rest of her life as an American.
Anne Frank went to Montessori school: http://t.co/QdeE5r4A #escola #pública #qualitat
Anne Frank Went To Montessori School http://t.co/MLYa7bnD via @sharethis