Remarks at Dedication of Anne Frank Tree
October 2, 2015Lexi Elenzweig
Good morning everybody….fellow students, guests and dignitaries. Thank you, Mrs. Streett, for your kind introduction. I am honored to have the opportunity to speak today alongside you as well as Ronald Leopold, the Executive Director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam; and President Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States.
The Sisterhood of Congregation B’nai Israel has a long history of working for social justice in our community. As a leader of our youth group and a future member of a Sisterhood, I am inspired by the legacy of the women of Sisterhood and the ongoing work they do today to repair, heal, and transform the world. Anne Frank wrote, “How wonderful it is that nobody wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”. The fact that we are here today speaks to the truth of Anne Frank’s statement: In 2009, Muriel Lederman, at that time the President of Sisterhood, heard a story on National Public Radio about Anne Frank’s tree in Amsterdam and the 11 saplings that the Anne Frank Center USA would be sending to places across the United States. Muriel did not wait a single moment—she immediately realized that a sapling planted in Little Rock would tell a powerful story that would link Anne’s story of hope for a just world to our own Arkansas history. Muriel quickly got the Sisterhood involved and established a partnership with the Clinton Foundation. Muriel’s vision and the resulting collaborations produced this incredible gift that will impact countless people in the future. Thank you to the Clinton Center and Clinton Foundation for everything you have all done to make this possible. Thank you to Anne Frank USA for this sapling.
This sapling will be a living reminder of Anne Frank’s legacy and the tragedy of the Holocaust. The windows around the sapling provide an opportunity to view examples of injustices that are scars on our past. This tree and the installation is a reminder of the oppression that the groups represented in this installation have experienced.
BUT…This sapling and the windows around it also represent a message of hope. Looking out of the window of the Secret Annex, Anne Frank wrote- “Our chestnut tree is in full bloom. It is covered in leaves and is even more beautiful than last year.”
I am 17 years old. I am just a little older than Anne Frank was when she died. The tree inspired Anne to write about her hopes and dreams for the future. Anne’s words, written in her diary, have inspired millions of people around the world, including me. I hope one day our “little" tree will began to grow and flourish, and resemble the tree that provided comfort and hope to Anne.
The roots of this sapling are grounded in history. As the roots take hold and provide a solid foundation for its growth, this tree will also become part of this place, anchoring itself into the future of this region.
The branches are reaching towards the future. As the branches grow higher, they will provide inspiration for us to always reach towards the good and light in this world. Like the tree, I hope together we continue to grow towards the light and into the future.
My hope is that the Anne Frank tree will come to represent something different for each observer as we look through these windows, allowing each of us to see through the eyes of others and to understand that we are all rooted in the same ground. This tree is a sum of its parts. Regardless of our pasts or our beliefs, we too are a sum of all our different parts, together forming a family tree.
As we cycle through the seasons - the tree will surely lose leaves and it will also surely experience new growth, conveying a message that we and future generations can rebuild and come back from the tragedies of the past.
Let us all hope that this tree and these windows into the past will provide hope as it once did for Anne Frank, inspiring all of us to work hard to fight injustice in all forms and to advocate for a world based on mutual respect.
Now, I’d like to introduce Ronald Leopold, Executive Director of the Anne Frank House. Mr. Leopold is a native of the Netherlands. For many years he was responsible for a very important governmental agency in the Netherlands, the pension fund that guarantees compensation for war victims—mainly victims of World War 2. In 2011, Ronald Leopold became the Executive Director of the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank House preserves the legacy of Anne Frank while promoting her vision for the future.
Please join me in welcoming Ronald Leopold…