Even though decades and thousands of miles separated them from Anne Frank, my students were able to discover the commonalities in their lives. They found ways to not only unite themselves with Anne, but also to fuse together as a family.
The most remarkable thing about my students’ reaction to the project was their desire to write letters directly to Miep Gies, herself. They were so excited and wanted to share with her that they were much more similar to Anne Frank than they were different.
Meeting Miep Gies
My students invited Miep Gies to Long Beach, California and were forever changed by her visit. Miep encouraged us “to make sure that Anne’s death was not in vain.” We heeded her call, and thus, ‘The Freedom Writers Diary’ is a tribute to the power of the written word.
Picking up the baton
Anne Frank’s diary had such a profound impact on my students and me that we eventually visited the Anne Frank House together, a year after my students’ high school graduation. We went to her attic on August 4th, the day that Anne was captured. We chose this date to show that we had picked up the baton, in the form of a pen, and were going to continue promoting her legacy.
Erin Gruwell
We think that Anne Franks Diary is a great book. We have read it about 5 times. We also wrote a poem for her
x_____A Beautiful Girl_____x
x A beautiful girl looking out a window hoping her life will last,
this beautiful girl was named Anne Frank and was a Jew from the past.
This beautiful girl full of happiness and dreams had to hide from the Nazis at war,
but hiding in an annexe for over to years was starting to be such a bore.
x So she started a diary just for herself who would be her best friend,
this diary would give her comfort and hope from start all the way to the end.
Anne and her family were finally discovered and deported to a horrible camp,
her and her sister stuck together and slept in a shed which was cold and damp.
x When her sister Margot came to her death, all Anne’s hope was gone,
she thought her family were killed by the gas and her life ended at dawn.
This beautiful girl was only fifteen when she caught typhus and died,
her father survived and returned back home to find her diary if sadness and pride.
We hope you liked our poem and thank you for giving us the oppertunity to share it .
I think it would be fun to visit all of the house. I think it would be scary to be there every day wondering whether you are going to die or not, whether you are going to live through it. What would happen the next day? Would you be caught or not? I think it would be very different and you could not look out of the widow and you could not go outside. I would not be happy. It would not be a thing I would want to do if I where them. Think of it this way: you could live a little longer, or forever, or die faster. Not so easy, but they had to do it for their kids.
I saw Miep Gies at the Academy Awards one year when she attended to receive a special award for Anne. I wish they would have allowed her to speak. I know there was no time, but the Academy didn’t realize how important Miep’s appearance was. She was there for Anne.
I know Miep would have said, “Anne, you finally made it. You have reached your dream, to receive an Academy Award for your stories, and to become known all over the world.”
I would like to thank Ms. Gruwell for her own inspirational story and subsequent movie “Freedom Writers”. Though I had heard Anne Frank’s story, I had never read the diary and about the story of her life. This movie inspired me to go right out and buy the book which I consumed in one sitting.
It’s no surprise that Anne’s story, when delivered with Ms. Gruwell’s unique style and perseverence, has forever changed the lives of so many of her students.
As far as I’m concerned, Anne, Ms. Gruwell and the Freedom Writers have all made the world such a better place to be. One wonderfully hopeful word at a time when hope is so very hard to find.
Thank you so much for sharing so much of yourselves…we should all be so brave!
Nashville, TN
As a former Woodrow Wilson High School Student, Los Angeles, I have to say I heard the name Anne Frank, but I had no idea what her story was all about, untill this past weekend March 15, 2008. As I sat down for a Saturday night movie, I put in three movies, Knocked up, Freedom Writers amd The Good Shepard… I selected Freedom Writers because I had heard bad reviews, and thought if it’s that bad, I’ll just go to the next movie. I have to say I was hoooked right in the beginning, and as I got into the movie I bawled my eyes out at the stuff these kids wrote and what they had to go through, and the deep emotions they had when they were explained about the holocaust and what Anne Frank had experienced. I felt as if I were one of those students learning all over again. It also inspired me to go out and buy the book, for Anne Frank was just a name to me, but now she is much more.
I truly believe that if all our teachers took their jobs as serious as Ms. Gruwell, society would be such a better place, and young adults would have a much better chance in succeeding in life.
Thank you for expressing yourselves and sharing your lives with us, and may the up and coming generations learn from this and grasp what many of you have, knowledge of life.
Sacramento, CA
i’m only nine and most nine year olds don’t care about what happened to 600 million jews i know that what happened to anne and many more jews is not fair but what happened to these latinos and many other people is horrible.