The Anne Frank Zentrum (Anne Frank Centre) is a facility located in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, which is committed to promoting a varied and lively society and to working against anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...

, prejudice and any kind of discrimination against people.

History

The foundation of the Anne Frank

Anne Frank

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...

 Zentrum in Berlin goes back to an initiative in 1994. At the time the showing of the international travelling exhibition "The world of Anne Frank. 1929-1945" was being prepared in Berlin. The exhibition was shown in six boroughs of the city to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation from National Socialism

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

. Specifically to support the coordination of the exhibition and the extensive accompanying programme a Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 was founded.

With this organisation as a basis, efforts were made towards the founding of the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin so that the work on the topics of the exhibition could be continued. To this end the existing Anne Frank Centres in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and the USA offered guidance.

On completion of a cooperation agreement with the Anne Frank House

Anne Frank House

The Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is a museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank, who hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the building...

 in Amsterdam the Anne Frank Zentrum was finally opened on 12 June 1998. Since then numerous visitors, youth groups and school classes have been coming to the Anne Frank Zentrum from Berlin and the whole country. Since September 2002 the Anne Frank Zentrum has been based next to the Hackesche Höfe

Hackesche Höfe

The Hackesche Höfe is a notable courtyard complex situated adjacent to the Hackescher Markt in the centre of Berlin. The complex consists of eight interconnected courtyards, accessed through a main arched entrance at number 40 Rosenthaler Straße....

 at 39 Rosenthaler Strasse in Berlin.

Exhibition in Berlin

Since 4 November 2006 the new permanent exhibition "Anne Frank. Here & Now" can be seen at the Anne Frank Zentrum. It is an exhibition about history and the present. It tells the personal life story of Anne Frank and connects it to the world she lived in. The exhibition focuses on the diary and the story of the life of Anne Frank. But via listening stations and portrait films young people of Berlin also have their say, dealing with current questions and so forming a connection to the present.

Touring Exhibitions

Projects with Anne Frank touring exhibitions are special events which directly involve many people. The projects encourage the examination of history but also of topics such as democracy and human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

. It is a special opportunity for young people to get involved. Anne Frank touring exhibitions are therefore one of the most important examples of active action against right wing

Right-wing politics

In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

 extremism

Extremism

Extremism is any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards...

in Germany.

The Anne Frank Zentrum offers different touring exhibitions with which one can organise a project on their own town. For a few weeks, this will create a special cultural event for all generations in the region. The life story of Anne Frank raises central questions for the present time: issues of social diversity, democracy and human rights are only a few of the topics.