Anne Frank Exhibit Backed By Community

The arrival of the touring Anne Frank exhibit April 28 sets a high-water mark for Spokane’s human rights movement, organizers say.

“A critical mass has been reached,” said George Critchlow, a Gonzaga University law professor who is bringing the exhibit to Spokane. This is the first major event sponsored by his organization, Gonzaga Institute for Action Against Hate.

Support for the exhibit has been strong. Everyone who was asked offered help, Critchlow said. “I have never, in doing civil liberties or human rights work, been involved where everyone said yes.”

Almost 100 people sent personal checks. Twenty businesses contributed at least $500 each; others gave in the thousands. Graphic designers offered their services, as did advertising firms, which helped create public service announcements.

In addition, 200 trained volunteers will run the show and give tours.

Business leaders are concerned that the region’s economy will be hurt if the area is thought to be filled with white supremacist groups, Critchlow said.

Gonzaga, which will be the site of the exhibit, is also where four black law students were targeted in 1995 with threatening letters containing racial slurs from a group that called itself Law Students for a Pure America.

Critchlow said the coalescence of business leaders and activists is worth noting.

“As a result of that juncture, the Anne Frank exhibit has become a much bigger event,” he said.

The traveling display, “The Anne Frank Exhibit: A History for Today,” runs April 28 to June 2 at the Schoenberg Center at Gonzaga. Admission is free and people can drop in weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit includes one graphic image, which makes it inappropriate for children under 10 years old.

The tour is one of three traveling the United States and Canada for the Anne Frank Center USA, based in New York City.

In all, 11,000 students from schools in Idaho, Eastern Washington and Montana have reserved times to visit. Organizers expect at least 20,000 visitors total.

By comparison, an Anne Frank exhibit from the same organization came to the Spokane Public Library in 1988 and drew 5,000 people.

Spokane will receive the newest touring display, which debuted in 1996. The Spokane exhibit is considered the most timely because it also addresses how hate movements have persisted in society, said Andrew Ortner, a staff member at the Anne Frank Center.

This year, the center’s exhibitions have appeared in Boise, Albuquerque, N.M., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

“We do want to get into smaller towns,” Ortner said. “This is information that doesn’t get seen by smaller communities.”

The display is comprised of 56 panels that explore Anne Frank’s life, the post-World War II period and modern examples of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. Photos are accompanied by a written narrative in English and Spanish.

A variety of speakers, films and companion events are scheduled. For more information look at the Web site at www.gonzaga.edu/annefrank/ or call (509) 323-3604.

The center’s staff is aware of Spokane’s proximity to hate groups in the region. In the past, the touring exhibit has attracted minor problems. One group protested the exhibit with a march in California. In Burlington, Vt., someone wrote “lies” on a panel, which was quickly removed, Ortner said.

“I think this exhibit will hit the people who are so negative and racist and try to stir up trouble, that there is a positive force here that is not going to stand for racism,” said Sheri Barnard, project manager.

“My hope is, in the not-too-distant future, that people from Spokane will travel and hear people say things like, `Oh, Spokane, they’re doing really good human rights work there,”’ Critchlow said. “This is a step toward that vision.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: EXHIBIT

“The Anne Frank Exhibit: A History for Today,” runs April 28 to June 2 at the Schoenberg Center at Gonzaga. Admission is free.