Lesson of Anne Frank for Current Times

The story of Anne Frank has long been told
in the diary kept by this young girl
as the horrors of Nazism did unfold,
with a hidden apartment her whole world.

Discovered, arrested, and then confined
in the Bergen-Belsen concentration
camp, dead at age fifteen because of blind
hatred of Jews by the Nazi nation,

Anne Frank might have lived a full life instead.
Her family sought safety in the U.S.
Refugees fleeing the coming bloodshed,
Jews found Americans lacked in kindness.

Anne Frank and countless other Jews were turned
back by our pre-World War II refusal
to come to their aid, their bodies then burned
in Nazi ovens. Timing was crucial.

As a nation we missed our chance to save
countless Jewish refugees. Today more
refugees are seeking to flee a grave
Syrian threat. Do we again close our door?

How many women and children will die
because we let our ignorance and fear
rule the day? Will we once again stand by
as innocents must pay a price too dear?

Given the chance to save Jews like Anne Frank,
wouldn’t we today rush to help them survive?
Current history’s pages now remain blank.
Shouldn’t we keep the Anne Franks of today alive?


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