Anne Frank Exhibit Gets Off To A Fast Start Telling Dutch Girl’S Compelling Story, Museum Display Draws Crowds To Gu

Tue., May 2, 2000

By Kristina Johnson kristinaj@spokesman.com

Just five days into its five-week stay at Gonzaga University, the traveling Anne Frank museum exhibit already is a success.

Local museum officials were exuberant Monday about the community’s response to the exhibit, which explores the short but affecting life of the young Dutch girl who hid with her family from the Nazis during World War II, only to die in a concentration camp near the war’s end.

Daily children’s tours have been booked to capacity. Book sales have exceeded all expectations, with two titles, “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Teaching the Diary of Anne Frank,” sold out. Nearly 1,700 children and adults were expected to have toured the exhibit between its opening on Thursday and closing time on Monday.

“This is just overwhelmingly wonderful,” said Jenny Jewell, assistant project director for the exhibit.

The display includes 56 panels that explore 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.

George Critchlow, a Gonzaga University law professor who brought the exhibit to Spokane, said he wasn’t surprised at the interest shown by area teachers in the display. “We probably could have doubled, easily, the number of students.”

But, he said, he was overwhelmed by the overall public support. “That was a little surprising. That actually has surpassed my expectations.”

However, the success of the exhibit won’t add a week to its already extended stay, Critchlow said. “But there always is the possibility of our institute or a similar one bringing the exhibit back again.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: SCHEDULE `The Anne Frank Exhibit’

The display, “The Anne Frank Exhibit: A History for Today,” runs through June 2 at the Schoenberg Center at Gonzaga University. Admission is free, and people may visit from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. The exhibit includes one graphic image, making it inappropriate for children under age 10.

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