The Anne Frank Trust’s prison project has been staging the Anne Frank: A History For Today exhibition for the past six years. In that time we have visited all categories of prison, both male and female. This project started out as a one-off experiment in HMP Reading in April 2002 to bring diversity education to prisoners and staff using the story of Anne Frank and the Holocaust, whilst relating history to contemporary society. It has proved to be an effective way to stimulate minds about the consequences of extreme politics and the persecution of minorities. The project addresses issues of racism and bullying, with a strong emphasis on the individuals’ social and moral responsibilities.
This is not to say that the project’s content is presented in a dry and academic way; it is not simply a history lesson! It is both flexible and informative. The various elements - exhibition, teaching materials, guide training, opening ceremony, graduation ceremony and workshops - combine to create an experience which includes everyone.
A History for Today is not, as some have initially perceived, an exhibition solely about Jewish history. Prisoners learn more about racism, stereotyping, gang mentality, extremism and victimisation. These are concepts they are often all too familiar with in their own lives. The project works as a springboard for discussion and thought around sensitive issues.
Selected prisoners and staff volunteer to act as guides to present the exhibition to other inmates, officers and invited guests. The ‘guides’ are trained by the Trust to lead others through the narrative of the exhibition, using discussion points and their own experiences to bring the story to life. The guides, who are encouraged to use their own style of guiding, gain experience of public speaking and presentation. Most are quite expert by the end of the project and have gained a new set of skills.
Many of the most successful project visits have come about through different departments working closely together; Chaplaincy with Diversity, Diversity with Education, Resettlement with Chaplaincy and so on: everybody gets involved, it’s all about cooperation. They each play a large part in laying down the groundwork before the project itself comes into the establishment.
In most cases we invite Holocaust survivors into the prisons so that they can share their experiences with the prisoners and staff. A prison is a strange place for a Holocaust survivor to go along to, you may think. Why after experiencing concentration camps, would they ever want to go near a prison? Of course the reasons vary, but from my understanding having met many of them, they want others to gain something positive from their own tragic experiences. They also bring a message of hope, which the prisoners can reflect on. If they can rebuild their lives – then perhaps there is hope for us all.
In January 2007, during the period in which national Holocaust Memorial Day is marked, the Chaplaincy at HMP Highdown wanted to make the project the centrepiece of the commemorations within the prison. On this occasion, a survivor from the Rwandan genocide was also invited to be a guest speaker.
A prisoner at HMP Wakefield responded to the visit of a female Holocaust survivor by saying:
I attended the exhibition and met Trude, who gave a very interesting and quite remarkable account of her life, home, family and country. She is quite an amazing lady to be able at eighty years old to stand for two hours and provide such insight into what I found to be very thought provoking and deeply emotive issues. Snow, C Wing, HMP Wakefield
There have been many different ways that the project has been used to understand and welcome diversity. At HMYOI Feltham, the lads from cookery class dished up a really delicious menu of traditional European foods for the closing ceremony.
At HMP Guys Marsh, they celebrated the project’s tenure under the title “All Nations Under One Roof” – which indeed most prisons are. They even invited She’koyokh, a Klezmer music ensemble to lead prisoners in learning traditional Jewish dances. Each prison interprets the project in a different way, and many events are light-hearted in nature but never failing to have a meaningful impact.
We offer an artistic outlet for the inmates through our creative writing workshops, lead by poet Leah Thorn. Because of the quality of the writing we have collected in several prisons, we are currently investigating publishing a book of collected writing as a commercially available volume.
In 2007, we were surprised, and delighted, to be presented with Braille copies of the Diary of Anne Frank in both HMP Wakefield and HMP Full Sutton, which we now proudly display whenever possible.
Since 2007, we have been running managed debates using an interactive programme, Free2Choose, with a DVD presenting different dilemmas faced by people in democratic societies such as issues arising from freedom of speech and other personal freedoms guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This takes the form of an informal debate with prisoners. The film clips challenge people to think critically and to express their individual points of view on each subject. We are not looking for a “correct” answer, and maintain that each opinion is valid. This has produced some very interesting results, and the inmates have greatly enjoyed the chance to participate in debate.
Prisoners at HMP Wakefield rematked that the debate provided “some long needed intellectual stimulation having been in prison for 17 years” and “a way to learn that is not normally provided for in schools or conventional prison education”
Our Anne Frank prisons project is still evolving, and in 2008 we are about to add additional panels into the exhibition explaining about later freedom movements, such as the civil rights movement, and current human rights movements worldwide, as well as highlighting genocides that have occurred since the Holocaust. The concluding panel will invite the audience to reflect upon their own viewpoints and attitudes.
Our Education Department are also currently developing an OCN course in Diversity in consultation with Mr Jose Aguiar from HMYOI Feltham. The Anne Frank story will be the central theme running through these study modules, providing examples to the student/prisoner of prejudice, discrimination, hatred and violence.
The project has a chameleon-like ability to adapt, addressing specific issues within specific prisons.
We need positive community relationships both in prisons, and on the outside. We feel that the participants in this project learn important lessons that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
At the Anne Frank Trust we believe that many offenders can change, and deserve the chance to become responsible, contributing members of society.
To quote Anne Frank:
The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands
This article appears in issue 73 of prisonREPORT published in April 2008. | 
