Frank exchange – Racism library opens at the Anne Frank Trust

Published: 21 October, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

SHE was voted the most influential female of the previous century and her diary has touched millions.

Now the work of Anne Frank, the young Dutch girl murdered by the Nazis, who chronicled the two years she spent hiding in an Amsterdam attic, has inspired a new library to help young people in Camden and beyond learn more about her life – and how the fight against racism and intolerance must never be lost.

The Anne Frank Trust, based in Kentish Town, this week opened a library dedicated to her life. Packed full of books that include her famous diary, it also includes other works that focus on all forms of racial and religious intolerance.

Speaking at the launch, Trust founder Gillian Walnes said the new library had been inspired by the work of her late husband, Tony Bogush, with whom she had set up the Trust to promote tolerance.

She said: “We want schools and teachers and students to use these books. Anne Frank said she looked forward so much to the day she could go back out from hiding and use her local library. Books mean to so much to her.”