The HMCS Alberni Museum and Memorial will be hosting the Canadian traveling exhibit of Anne Frank; A History For Today.
The exhibit has travelled to more than 60 countries, and now the exhibition will be arriving in the Comox Valley.
The exhibit will be opening at the museum in the Comox Mall on Dec. 1, just in time to celebrate Hanukkah and to give the public another holiday activity to do with their families.
Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who went into hiding during the Second World War in an attempt to escape the Nazis. Her diary from that time remains a vivid record of the impacts of historical events on one person’s life.
“We hope to be able to connect it to our community through the stories of those who lived through the occupation or their surviving relatives,” said Lewis Bartholomew, director of HAMM. “The stories of Canadian Forces who served, and in some cases paid the ultimate sacrifice, to liberate Europe will reside alongside Anne’s personal story in our main exhibit hall.”
Anne Frank; A History For Today will be at HAMM from Dec. 1 - Feb. 28 during regular museum hours. So that this exhibit can remain free to the public HAMM needs local sponsors of to cover the cost to host this event.
The museum is hoping to use corporate funding and individual donations to bring this exhibit to the Valley. We are also looking for persons who can share their own experiences of the German occupation of the Netherlands during the war, and perhaps loan some items from their personal history.
During January and February, HAMM will work with local schools and North Island College to have volunteer student guides who will go through some training courtesy of the Anne Frank House. These students will conduct all the school field trips that will be scheduled through the museum.
For more information on sponsorship or to volunteer some time as an adult or student tour guide for this exhibit, contact Bartholomew at the HMCS Alberni Museum and Memorial at mrbarth@alberniproject.org or at 250-339-4322.