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The Anne Frank New Zealand Advisory Board

(Operational between 2017 - 2020)

 

 

Boyd Klap, CNZM QSO

Anne Frank NZ Chairman
The Anne Frank story is well-known. Each year over one million people visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and this exhibition gives you the opportunity to experience the Anne Frank story in New Zealand. I was a teenager in Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War. Anne Frank was about the same age as me but I am alive and she died at the age of 15. Those years were bad, my neighbours were Jews and the couple and their young boy were arrested and never came back. My wife’s uncle was tortured and then executed. Anne Frank lived a short life but is revered worldwide. The diary she wrote whilst in hiding is in the top 10 books read in the world and it has been translated into 72 languages. I believe she is remembered because she represents the 1.5 million Jewish children who were killed. But she is also remembered for the way she dealt with extreme hardship. She had dreams and expressed them in her diary. She wanted to be a mother and an author. During the last few years, I have seen many reactions to the exhibition. Sometimes it brings back memories and tears, overall it is a challenging visit that gives us an insight into her life and what an inspiration she was and still is.

 

 

Jeremy Smith

HCNZ Board member

 

As a board member of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, it gives me great pride to know that this exhibition will inspire and empower the young people of New Zealand to stand up against prejudice, discrimination and apathy, in line with the Holocaust Centre’s own Vision and Mission. The Anne Frank House is a museum where visitors are given the opportunity to personally envision what happened on that very spot in Amsterdam. Whilst the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is on the other side of the world its reach is far and its work commendable. The Anne Frank House is active in more than 50 countries with exhibitions and educational projects. We are very excited to have this exhibition travel the county and be able to encourage more visits by school groups to the Holocaust Centre. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring the atrocities of the past are never forgotten or repeated. I hope that this exhibition imprints on you the importance and power of individuals to speak up, advocate for others and affect change for a better, inclusive society.

 

 

Sir John Clarke CNZM

 

Sir John Clarke is a former Chief Executive of the Ministry of Māori Affairs, and a former Race Relations Conciliator, and Human Rights Commissioner. He was also Principal of Ngata Memorial College and Wellington High School and Community Institute. He works as a mediator with the Crown Law Office, the Office of Treaty Settlements, the Ministry of Justice, and Te Puni Kokiri on the Treaty of Waitangi claim and on providing Māori language and cultural support. He served on the Waitangi Tribunal from 1996 to 2010 and took part in seven major inquiries. He is an experienced facilitator, working with numerous iwi and public sector groups and recently working with members of the Central North Island Collective to achieve positive outcomes. He is a member of the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board’s Marae Heritage Committee and is also a trustee of the Tokararangi Forest and Te Rimu Lands Trust.

 

 

Inge Woolf QSO

 

 

A child refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria, Inge lived in the UK before moving to New Zealand to start a new life. Co-founder of Woolf photography, and Founding Director of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, the late Inge Woolf brought a wealth of experience to the Anne Frank Advisory Board.

 

 

Dame Kerry Prendergast CNZM JP

 

 

Former Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast sits on a range of advisory boards for various charitable organisations and is an Ambassador for Alzheimers New Zealand.

 

 

Sir Maarten Wevers KNZM

 

 

Born in the Netherlands, Maarten Wevers emigrated to New Zealand as a child. He has worked as a dedicated public servant and Ambassador for New Zealand in Japan and Papua New Guinea.
 
 
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