Anne Frank House Exhibit to Come to The Stratford Perth Museum in 2015

The Stratford Perth Museum has been selected to be the venue for a new travelling exhibit from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam from June to October 2015. The exhibit coincides with the Stratford Festival's presentation of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Avon Theatre.

Travelling exhibits developed by the Anne Frank House have been shown in more than 80 countries since 1985, from Japan to South Africa. Telling the story of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who had to go into hiding during the Second World War to escape the Nazis, this exhibit prompts young people to reflect on today's society. New content examining the role Canadian soldiers played during the Second World War and in liberating Holland in 1945 will be presented for the first time.

"The Anne Frank House is thrilled to present the exhibit 'Anne Frank - A History for Today' at the Stratford Perth Museum in close collaboration with the Stratford Festival and other partners," said Julie Couture, coordinator of Canadian educational projects at the Anne Frank House.

"It's through Anne's life story that we can best understand the impact historical events have on a personal life. Visitors and school groups will be invited through this exhibition to remember major events of WW II both in Canada and Europe and to reflect on the relevancy of this history in today's society. "

The presentation of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Stratford Festival is expected to bring tens of thousands of adults and students to the area who can now experience both the play and the exhibit. The Stratford Perth Museum and the Stratford Festival are working closely together regarding ticket sales. Advance tickets to the exhibit will be sold through the Stratford Festival box office while
same-day tickets will be for sale at the Stratford Perth Museum. School and group tours will also be booked through the Stratford Perth Museum.

"The story of Anne Frank has captivated people since her war time diary was published in 1947," said Stratford Festival Executive Director Anita Gaffney. "Our production invites patrons to re-visit the story of Anne Frank or to discover it for the first time. We're delighted that the Anne Frank House has selected the Stratford Perth Museum to host an exhibit about Anne Frank which will provide another point of discovery for our patrons. The exhibit will be a wonderful complement to our production and will provide another reason to draw people to the community."

2015 marks the Stratford Perth Museum's second consecutive major exhibit in collaboration with the Stratford Festival. In 2014, marking the Bard's 450th birthday, the Museum hosted the year's only Canadian showing of Shakespeare's "First Folio" - a 1623 publication of 36 of Shakespeare's plays loaned from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. This next collaboration, with the Stratford Festival and Anne Frank House, is expected to draw thousands to the Museum in the summer of 2015.

"This should be a 'must see' for everyone in Perth County and beyond! Anne Frank still stands today as a universal symbol of the tragedy of discrimination and religious persecution," said Stratford Perth Museum chair and president David Stones. "Further, her heroic story resonates within our county's Dutch population and with the proud history of the Perth Regiment. Our Museum is absolutely honoured to be chosen to host such an important, iconic exhibit."

In addition, THEMUSEUM, in downtown Kitchener, is a fourth partner in the project and will present a related exhibit exploring the broader story of the Holocaust. Entitled "Fragments: Portraits of Survivors," it consists of a collection of black and white photographs taken by Toronto photographer Jason Schwartz whose work captures the expressions and memories of Holocaust survivors. That exhibit will also include artifacts from the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.