– Maryam Imbisat
Anne Frank, a world-renowned diarist and victim of the Nazi occupation, did not live a life beyond closed doors and dark attics. Through her words, she remains alive, her memory etched in the walls of schools, museums, and streets where oppression took place. Her diary became a resilient force against the fire of hatred that engulfed her as an innocent 16-year-old girl. Today, as we witness the killings and slaughter of the Palestinian people, one can’t help but wonder: if Anne Frank were alive – if her pen still moved across the pages of history – would she recognise in Palestine the echoes of her own suffering?
bol ki lab āzād haiñ tere
bol zabāñ ab tak terī hai
terā sutvāñ jism hai terā
bol ki jaañ ab tak terī hai
dekh ki āhan-gar kī dukāñ meñ
tund haiñ sho.ale surḳh hai aahan
khulne lage qufloñ ke dahāne
phailā har ik zanjīr kā dāman
bol ye thoḌā vaqt bahut hai
jism o zabāñ kī maut se pahle
bol ki sach zinda hai ab tak
bol jo kuchh kahnā hai kah le
I am reminded of these lines written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz when I think about Anne Frank and what her opinion might have been on the current oppression of Palestine. Her spirit to stand with the oppressed can be seen in the following quote: “People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn’t stop you from having your own opinion.” From this, we can infer that she believed in the power of speaking up and taking a stance for what’s right. Anne was forced into hiding along with her family and four other Jews for a span of two years. This confinement shaped her views, and we see the effects of oppression through the perspective of a 13-year-old girl’s diary. Her life experiences teach us the value of freedom. The genocide and mass slaughter of Palestinians that we witness today have been ongoing for decades and have intensified with each passing day. From this situation, it seems that history has taught humanity nothing except how to turn every massacre into a lesson for future generations.
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Anne was an outgoing teenager at heart. Limiting the freedom of any child is like imprisoning a bird in a cage. People lose hope when forced to hide in dark homes and sunlight-deprived attics. Despite all of this, Anne believed there must be some good in the world. The children in Palestine, in Gaza, do not have access to a need as basic as clean water, and yet many have taken initiatives to build new homes and start a life with whatever is provided. The killings haven’t stopped even now, and the future of the Palestinians remains uncertain, for they do not know when another Israeli tank might squish them as if they weren’t humans but insects and when another bullet might filter through their bodies as if they weren’t humans but bags full of sand.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Anne Frank is a symbol of resistance not only for Jews but also for every single oppressed soul of this planet. We consider her a symbol of resilience and justice but have we done justice to her by doing nothing for the Palestinians? Have we been honouring her soul by remaining silent? Anne’s diary was a call to action for injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
“I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the suffering of millions.”
Anne’s diary depicted her sensitiveness towards the thunder which took millions under it. The sufferings of the people back then under the Nazi regime lasted from 1939-1946 while the Palestinians have been facing the genocide since 1948 and we see no signs of it stopping. If Anne Frank was able to feel and condemn the sufferings of millions back then, it would have been no shock to see her support the Palestinians. No matter the years and extent to which an oppression might take place, the feeling of helplessness remains the same.
“Who has inflicted this upon us? Who has made us different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now?”
‘Why has this been happening to us?’ might be a question every Palestinian child might ask themselves every day. For the world, it’s about how and when but for the Palestinians, it all comes down to a single word, ‘why?’
Oppressors and tyrants of history and today have a habit of considering themselves to be above all powers. What these tyrants don’t realise is that when time shall come, a single scream of a helpless Palestinian child would be enough to topple such regimes and rules. A question that arises is who decides whose suffering is visible and whose voices get to be heard? Are there certain criteria to fulfil for their voices to be heard and action taken?
“As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?”
Anne used these words while being hidden in a secret annex while her words remained confined up to being whispers. She found comfort coming to the attic and looking up at the sky and wondering about all the good that still remained in the world. Yet this sky that she looked up at and the window she looked out through remains stolen from Palestinians. The same sky she looked up at with hope rains bombs on Palestinians and the windows remain shattered.
Anne found joy in the simple existence of the sky. That sky was her freedom, even if she couldn’t touch it. But in Palestine, the sky is not a metaphor – it is a threat. There is no sun, no cloudless peace, only the roar of drones and the smoke of airstrikes. What comfort can be found in the sky when it turns against you?
Anne’s story is sacred and a symbol of freedom. But her story remains being used by the very systems of power that perpetuated this suffering of the Palestinians. Her name is etched on the walls of the cities that remain silent as the people suffer.
This is not about and will never be about comparing oppressions. It is about recognising the universality of human dignity – and questioning why some lives are remembered with candlelight, while others are reduced to rubble and forgotten.
Anne’s legacy must live on, and if there’s something that she teaches us, it is that humans are what we are, and humanity is what we all must keep practising. So, would Anne Frank stand with Palestine?
If she believed in justice, humanity, and in the power of remembrance – how could she not?
[The writer, based in Hyderabad, is a student of Class XII]
