People all around the world have read Anne Frank’s narrative;The Diary of a Young Girl has been widely adopted by writers and filmmakers in the West, and the audience world over have embraced it.
Yet, the West seemingly has not quite accepted the reality of the contemporary Anne Frank. The New York Times’ (NYT) Nicholas Kristof sums it up perfectly: “Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian Girl.”
In his opinion piece, Kristof explains how Otto Frank, a Jewish man was desperately trying to escape Nazi persecution and emigrate to the United States with his family, a situation hauntingly similar to the present day refugee crisis.
Kristof writes, “We all know that the Frank children were murdered by the Nazis, but what is less known is the way Anne’s fate was sealed by a callous fear of refugees, among the world’s most desperate people. Sound familiar?”
The spread of xenophobia in Western countries has been accentuated by some leaders preying on this fear to turn their backs on innocents who are just trying to keep their children alive.
No one takes their family into hiding in the heart of an occupied city unless they are out of options. No one takes their child on a flimsy boat to cross the Mediterranean unless they are desperate.Mattie J Bekink, Consultant, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam to NYT
The widespread fear across United States during World War II (WWII) of Jewish refugees turning out to be Nazi spies is equivalent to the one today of Syrian refugees spreading terrorism.
However, there are many who are vehemently refuting this analogy, as can be seen in comments posted in reply to the article. People point out how there is a lot of difference between Jews of the past and Syrians of today. According to them, Jews were the direct target of the Nazi atrocities whereas, Syrians are the “collateral damage” of an unfortunate war.
Irrelevant of the circumstances in which the refugees suffered during the WWII or continue to today, the reasons for turning a blind eye to their suffering are similar.
“The reasons for the opposition then were the same as they are for rejecting Syrians or Hondurans today: We can’t afford it, we should look after Americans first, we can’t accept everybody, they’ll take American jobs, they’re dangerous and different”, writes Kristof.
As Nicholas Kristof rightly puts it, “Today, to our shame, Anne Frank is a Syrian girl.”
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