Anne Frank's father, Otto, visits the attic where they hid from the Germans in World War II. He stands alone as he is the only member of his family to have survived the Holocaust, 1960.
Photographer: Arnold Newman
The more I stare at his expression, the worse I feel for him. Could you imagine what is going through his head here?
Great question. Can you imagine being in a situation where your loved ones have died, and you have emotional conflict that half wants to return to the most frightening time of your life which happened right there in that room when you and your family hid for your lives from nazi persecution, but everyone was still alive? Imagine having your most recent happy memories of your family mixed up with that terror. How awful.
I hope he thought back to before the times they spent hiding.
I lost my brother after a long failed treatment for cancer. It’s easy to remember the crappy 3 years of hospital visits and associated hardship. But when I remember him, I’m more often thinking of the 30 years before that, and the good moments in between.
Being in that room probably made it impossible not to think about the war though, and there’s no way anyone could be expected to think otherwise.
Also vote against Nazis and fascists so we don’t have to deal with these again.
Stories like this are why I'm absolutely convinced that if God does exist, they're the kind of guy that likes to burn ants with a magnifying glass.
I am so sad for him.
The only charitable explanation I have for god is that the conditions for life on earth are just a side effect of whatever god was trying to do in another part of the universe entirely.
This galaxy isn’t full of god’s chosen. Merely the forgotten or never intended.
Hell, there’s a theory that the universe we see is actually the inside of a black hole. (It’s not a super widely accepted theory, mind you.) I could accept it as god has already discarded us.
If I believed in the existence of ‘god,’ anyway.
I suppose it’s all possible, but since there is no evidence to support such claims even if only a thought experiment, I will be continuing my current belief that no god exists or ever has existed.
"If there is a god, he will have to beg for my forgiveness"
This sentence was found carved into a wall in one of the sheds in a concentration camp.
Diary of Anne Frank should be mandatory reading and is worth reading multiple times at different stages of one's life. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is also up there.
I'm not sure which is considered the best but these are the ones I've read:
Not Fun fact: Anne Frank did not get executed. She died from disease in the concentration camp.
So they dragged him back to that place, making him relive those memories.... for a photo op?
Presumably he could have just said no. Maybe he actually wanted to visit the last place where his family was alive
Otto has been very vocal and active in getting his daughter's diary published and getting her story told. It's far more likely he dragged himself there.
Or he went back by choice and someone captured the moment? You don't have to be outraged about everything, you know.
i mean it was only 15 years later and probably the first time anyone could go back im sure a lot of people wanted to see what was left and im sure they didn't force him if he volunteered to be photographed
it was also the day that the anne frank house opened
https://www.annefrank.org/en/about-us/what-we-do/otto-franks-mission/
SJWs and their need to find a victim to defend. Who dragged him? What makes you think he couldn't say no? And who told you that was done just for the photo?
Yeah, I don't think SJWs are on the side of "Anne Frank's dad shouldn't have taken an emotional picture in the attic they hid in."
Because of a clearly visible desire to find a victim and to defend it, regardless of what actually happened.
Who's defending whomst? I just don't go in for PR photo ops, no matter the cause.....seems manipulative to me