Pairing Voices with Faces

A powerpoint version of today’s lesson is available for download at the end.

Yesterday we began reading the play The Diary of Anne Frank. To start us off I went through a little background information and then let the students listen to an audio verison of the play performed by several actors. I only did this to get some voices in their heads — something to tie to the characters.

Today I wanted to get some faces to pair with the voices in the play, so I went on a little hunt for images of Anne Frank, her family, the other members living in the secret annex, the people helping hide them, as well as some pictures to show what the annex looked like. This was done in a powerpoint presentation, which is given below.

The images below are those I showed, combined with a little commentary from class.

Yesterday we heard the voices of these people…today I want you to have an image in your head of who’s on stage when this play is performed. I want you to become these people. In order to do that, you need to know what they look like. Let’s put real faces on them.

As far as I know, this is the actual diary Anne Frank wrote in. The books below are the additions she had to make. She was confined for two-and-a-half years, so there was more to write about than that small red-and-white diary could provide.

Here’s Anne. The picture on the right is of Anne at age 12. The picture on the left is obviously a younger picture.

This is the first picture we see of Anne that shows us something about the family. They obviously came from money because this is a professional portrait. It shows Anne in nice clothes, in her home, doing something all teens do — pretend to do homework.

Here we have Anne’s Parents, Otto and Edith. Notice the nice clothing Otto’s wearing, and also notice the very porifessional portrait of Edith. That second photo is another hint at the fact these people have money — beause that isn’t the type of photo you get when you go to Wal-Mart.

Now, maybe this isn’t the greatest photo of Margot Frank, but very few photos of her exist. Nevertheless, this is the image of Anne Frank’s older sister.

When the Franks went into hiding, they met up with Hermann and Auguste Van Pels. Anne refers to them as Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, and the only reason I can assume for this is to keep those people safe. Were her diary ever to be found, she wouldn’t want the names of those living with her to come out. I’ll assume she gave them pseudonyms to keep them safe.

But notice their clothes. This family also comes from money — both of the Van Daans are dressed very well, and when we meet them in the play, Mr. Van Daan is wearing a very nicely cut suit. Mrs. Van Daan is wearing a fur coat. This is not the clothing of the poor.

I could not find a picture of Peter Van Pels. I do not know what he looks like.

Frist Pfeffer, known as Mr. Dussel in the play, was a ladies man. This is him with one of his girlfriends.

Here we have Miep Gies. She was Dutch — not a Jew — and because she was helping the Franks the Van Pels’ and Mr. Pfeffer hide, she was putting her life at great risk. In essence, she was part of the rescue and resistance movement we discussed last week. The picture on the left is of Miep in her twenties. The picture on the right is more recent. Miep is still alive today. She is 97 years old. I don’t know if it’s possible to contact her in any way, but I do think that if we could contact her and ask her a few questions, we would be doing something unbelievably important for future generations.

here we have Mr. Kraler. (Actually, I think the Mr. Kraler in the play is an amalgam of several people — one of the four people who helped hide the people in the Annex. But when I did a search for “Mr. Kraler” on wikipedia, I ended up with this one Mr. Kugler.) Like Miep Gies, he was Dutch, and obviously survived.

Here we have the Frank family’s acutal house. I only show this because this house is featured in the only known video of Anne Frank.

Click the link to see footage of Anne’s neighbors’ wedding. A few seconds in you will see a young Anne Frank looking out of her window.

Video courtesy of the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam

Here we have the Opekta Factory, which was owned and run by Otto Frank. This image is more recent, and shows that the building has been updated over the decades. The important thing to note is that looking at the front side of this building, you’d never guess that peopel were hiding in the back portion.

This back portion looks out onto a park. People never noticed anyone was living inside because the from housed a business. Secondly, the Franks and the other members living with them covered the windows with dark cloth to conceal themselves from the public.

This architectural layout shows three rooms of the secret annex, complete with the placement of the beds. What’s missing is the top floor — that level outlined on the far left shows a private office rarely visited by those in hiding.

Here’s a 3-d view of the secret annex.

And here’s a closer look at each level. Notice the close confines oof these spaces, and notice also the fact that one room has pictures pasted all along the wall.

If anyone were to visit the back end of the Opekta factory, they would have been met by a brick wall. In one section they would have seen a brick wall covered by a bookshelf and a desk. If any of you were to encounter the scene on the right, would you EVER expect that behind that bookshelf held an apartment?

In the powerpoint (which is available for download below), the picture on the right is animated — it shows the bookcase opening and closing.

This is one of the only pictures I could find of the inside of the Annex. It paints a beautiful, serene picture. The sad fact is that window on the right would have likely been blocked out by thick, dark fabric; behind that table, just out of view, would have been a bed.

But even in scuh confines, Anne Frank continued to been a teenager. she decorated her room with pictures of famous people and of family. In a word: she was a normal teenager.

I call this slide “The Last Picture” because this is one of the final photographs taken of Anne and Margot before the family went into hiding.

After the presentation, I had the students pick parts to play and we went into a partial production of the play. The sutdents were lively and excited throughout the presentation and the reading of the play. They begged their questions and they sought out the parts they wanted. They were happy to read and they were happy to ask for help when needed.

At the beginning of class, an administrator walked in and took a seat. Her presence wasn’t expected, but she sat through class and offered up information when she was questioned by the students and when I asked for help.

After class I asked if she’d stopped by for anything specific, and she said she’d only stopped by to ask if I was going to attend a meeting tonight. Aftter that she gave my students the greatest compliment I’ve heard from another teacher. She said: “Sitting in your class took me back to, um, well….the ‘good old days.’ Kids were participating, kids were excited, kids were reading and playing the parts. I’m happy I stopped by.”

I’m a little reluctant to share that with the students, but I do want them to know that what they did in class today made another person happy. They really impressed someone, and it didn’t take any of that hackneyed ‘I want you to be on your best behavior because an admin’s coming,’ garbage. They were just themselves and just students; they were just eager to learn more and participate in something that abvouly hold meaning for them.

High-five to the kids.

To download the actual powerpoint presentation, click here. It’s pretty spare, so you can change it as needed.

All images are taken from wikipedia or the sites liked above.

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