Carroll Elementary students will become docents and lead tours to provide visitors with historical experiences of Anne Frank’s life during the Holocaust and World War II to community visitors on Thursday, October 10, 2019.
While adults are typically the docents to lead lessons, these unique student tour guides were trained by the director of the Anne Frank House to inform visitors of the cultural, ethnic, religious and political differences between people that exist in every society, and to encourage all visitors to practice tolerance.
We deeply value the opportunity for students to connect with Anne Frank’s story. It has been our privilege to travel to Holland with Hannie Voyles, who, unlike Anne, survived the war years. Hannie lived around the corner from Anne and also attended Amsterdam’s Montessori School, and was just a few year’s behind Anne. Like Anne, Hannie’s family was still in Amsterdam when the Nazis invaded, when escape from Holland was no longer possible. Survival for Hannie was a day-by-day challenge.
Photo: Anne Frank, Montessori School, Amsterdam
Photo: Hannie Voyles, Montessori School, Amsterdam
As a Holocaust survivor, Hannie felt the need to document her story and those of her fellow Montessori classmates who managed to live through the Holland’s most terrifying years. Visiting Holland with Hannie is an opportunity to step into the pages of Storming the Tulips and to pay tribute to the 173 students from the 1st Montessori School who were murdered by the Nazis and to learn from the stories of the twenty students who lived through that time. Storming the Tulips is a complement to The Diary of Anne Frank and other works that explain the ravaging effect the war had on the children. Anne’s story tells of her sequestered life in The Annex; the children in Storming the Tulips show what life was like on the streets, in hiding, and in the concentration camps.
“I’m a Holocaust survivor – one of the lucky ones, if that term could ever be used to describe that ravaged time. Although I avoided the death camps, I did not escape the suffering and loss….the Nazis invaded our country and stole our neighbors, our friends, our homes, our food, our hope, and our dignity.” Hannie J. Voyles
A shout out to Carroll Elementary students for making a tough topic accessible to the Elk Grove community.
In addition to the Anne Frank exhibit, Carroll Elementary will also display the Bandage Project, a ten-year project that includes over 1.5 million bandages with handwritten names of Holocaust victims. Carroll Elementary collected 20,000 of these bandages to be added to the project.
If you have time to check out the event, the public is welcome.
Anne Frank House Exhibit – Carroll Elementary School
October 10, 2019
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
10325 Stathos Drive, Elk Grove, CA 95757
