Inmates to guide visitors around Anne Frank show

Apr 7 2008 by Karen Price, Western Mail

PRISONERS in Wales will be trained as exhibition guides this week as part of a project commemorating Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

The Anne Frank Trust is working with prisoners and staff at Usk Prison in an attempt to challenge hatred, intolerance and inequality.

They will have the chance to see an exhibition about the life of the young German-born Jewish girl who famously kept a diary of her time spent hiding from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam during the Second World War.

Project manager at the Anne Frank Trust Steve Gadd said: “We have been staging the exhibition in prisons for the past four years to great acclaim and are very pleased to have the opportunity to visit HMP Usk & Prescoed.

“Prisoners and staff alike find the story of Anne Frank both moving and inspirational and the issues raised in the diary continue to be relevant today.

“Despite the dreadful circumstances of her life, Anne Frank was a teenager who really believed the world could become a better place if people treated each other with compassion, respect and understanding.

“This is a powerful message for all of us today.”

The Anne Frank Trust UK works across the country to teach young people about the life of Anne Frank.

The charity has five touring exhibitions that are visited by more than 150,000 people every year.