Anne Frank's Mouth
05/16/2019 09:45:14 AM
Our congregational mission to Eastern Europe experienced so many different aspects of our history and heritage, and we could not avoid visiting many sites remembering the Holocaust and its victims. These sites have very diverse flavors and intentions. Some identify culprits and collaborators while others deflect blame. Some try to create perspective on the enormity of the horror, others focus on the impact once victim at a time. They may be placed at the sites where events happened, or in public spaces where they will be noticed. My experience of these memorials could not have been more timely because it coincides with a discussion of a resource within in our own city.
Ironically, the graffiti-proof coating for these stones was made by the same company that manufactured the poison gas used to murder the victims, and purchased their gold teeth.
The simple memorial at Platform 17- the train platform from which Berlin’s Jews were deported, is more comprehensible. The platform is lined with 186 plates, each marking the date of one of the 186 trains that left the platform and the number of victims it carried. The numbers, 50, 100, 730 Jews, still numb the mind . At the other extreme are the “stumbling stones”- a project that was begun by one individual. A tiny square- just a few square inches embedded in the sidewalk records the name of a single victim, placed in front of the building where they last lived. Over 70,000 of them have been placed so far across Europe, but each one has its own impact. I was most struck by these stones, because they remind us that each victim was a unique person, really a whole world, with a home and a history.
I’m now back in Sandy Springs, where a conversation is unfolding about our local Holocaust memorial, the “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit. It is important to Jews, in particular because it is not a uniquely Jewish place, but rather a tool for all to understand the dangers of hate and where it can lead, and the power of good people to make a difference. The existing exhibit must leave its current site, and there are plans proposed to keep the exhibit in Sandy Springs, relocating it to a site near City Springs, together with the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust and other civic organizations.If you share my sentiments, particularly if you live or work in Sandy Springs, please join me in making your feelings known to our city council, and making sure that Anne Frank's mouth is not closed, but continues to speak to us and to the entire population of our state. I've included the email addresses of our mayor and city council, and a sample message, below.
RPaul@SandySpringsga.gov, jpaulson@sandyspringsga.gov, ssoteres@sandyspringsga.gov, cburnett@sandyspringsga.gov, jreichel@sandyspringsga.gov, tdejulio@sandyspringsga.gov, abauman@sandyspringsga.gov
Message:
The City of Sandy Springs is considering the building of a Cultural Center to house organiztions including the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust and the Anne Frank in the World Exhibit. I believe that it is important that the exhibit remain in a prominent location in our city, and the proposed Cultural Center would be an excellent way to accomplish that.
I encourage you to support for this measure by casting an affirmative vote with regard to the above.
Thank you,
NAME: ____________________________________________
ADDRESS: _________________________________________