Last night my eighth grader began reading The Diary Of Anne Frank, and asked me if I’ve ever read it.
It was the fifth grade when I first read it. My grandparents and my mother fled Prague in the year 1939. I was probably too young to know this, but I did. “It is probably the very first reason why I started keeping diaries,” I said.
“I’ve just read that everyone who is Jewish has to wear a yellow, six-pointed Star.”
“Didn’t you know that?” As gently as possible, I asked. He shrugged his shoulders no. Do you remember the star that was in a small frame at Nonni’s and Papa’s home? He shrugged his shoulders no once more.
I believe the star they had framed is from my sister-in law’s mother who was a camp survivor. My mother proudly displayed the star, as a reminder of both who we are and how far Jews have come in America.
We’ve not made as much progress as she believed, or as I once thought. Maybe the world has regressed.
A Massachusetts GOP candidate who praised Hitler has pledged to run for office in my state.[d] To ‘exile Jews’. She is not near me and lost, even though she received 38 percent of votes.
I knew Anne Frank’s Diary was part of 8th Grade Curriculum ….
