She was just a teenager, trying to describe what life was like as she, and her family were hiding from the Nazis. But, Anne Frank’s moving diary has become one of the most enduring stories putting a face to the Holocaust.
Frank was a German born Jewish girl. After the Nazis took power, her family fled to the Netherlands. As the Nazis began to deport Jews from Amsterdam to concentration camps, she and her family went into hiding. They were caught in 1944, and she died in a concentration camp in 1945.
Her diary told her family's story. It became a best-selling book, and led to plays and movies which together are seen as some of the most powerful looks at antisemitism, and the Holocaust.
It’s a powerful story, with an important message about antisemitism. But a Westlake Village author and his writing partner came up with a way of opening up the door to the difficult subject to younger audiences.
What David Miller and Steven Rubin came up with was a book called “The Cat Who Lived With Anne Frank.
"We're living in the age of emboldened hate, and rising antisemitism." said Miller. "But, that's not what made us think of it. I have a writing partner, Steve Rudin, and he's a film historian. He listens to movies as he shaves. He was listening to the 1959 'Diary of Anne Frank', and the cat was being chased around in the annex, causing mischief. He wondered what the cat would have thought of all this."
Miller said Rubin called him up with the idea of doing a picture book about Anne Frank from the cat's point of view, and that's what they decided to do. The book looks at Anne’s life through the cat’s perspective. It looks at the issue of antisemitism, and how the family had to hide from the Nazis.
But, it stops short of when her family is caught, and is taken to Nazi concentration camps.
There is an explanation of the full story in the back of the picture book, which give adults the information they need to talk about what happened to Frank, and her family.
The book simplifies the facts. The cat calls Jews yellow stars, because the Nazis made everyone who was Jewish wear yellow stars on their clothing. And the cat calls the Nazis armed black spider soldiers. The authors actually used a reference from one of the characters in "The Sound Of Music" to the Nazis.
Miller says the book incorporates some of the quotes from Frank’s diary.
Frank’s father survived the Holocaust, but she, her mother, and sister all died. It was her father who worked to have her diary published.
Miller says it’s sad , but he feels the subject of antisemitism is more relevant than ever today, because of the surge we have seen in incidents.
"People are really concerned about what's happening around the world with emboldened hate," said Miller.
Miller says there’s been a new lot of interest in the book, which was originally published in 2019. They just did a book signing at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, which is hosting a major exhibition about the Holocaust centered around the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.
The plan is to do more events at Holocaust museums.
