Anne Frank was 15 years old when she died in a Nazi concentration camp. Yet her words outlived her body. Words scribbled in a diary from a secret attic in Amsterdam became one of the world’s most powerful mirrors.
This summer, I found myself in Amsterdam for Mindvalley U. By chance, my Airbnb was on the street next to Anne Frank’s house. Each morning, I’d step outside and see the same canals, the same cobblestones, and the same rooftops Anne may have glimpsed in stolen moments when she dared peek out from her hiding place.
A few mornings later, I opened the news and froze. The Diary of Anne Frank had just been banned in Florida schools under new book-ban laws. Imagine that. In 2025, one of the most important human documents ever written—the testimony of a teenage Jewish girl hiding from Nazi genocide—was deemed “inappropriate” for children to read.
The synchronicity hit me hard. I was standing before the building where those words were written. Words that survived Anne, even though she did not. Words that outlived war, genocide, and cruelty—only to be silenced again today by politicians who fear truth more than hatred.
And this got me thinking.
If Anne Frank were alive today, what would she say about America? About Israel & Gaza?
What I’m about to share may feel uncomfortable—but Anne’s words demand we face discomfort.
Who was Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1929. When the Nazis rose to power, her family fled to Amsterdam, hoping to escape persecution. In 1942, when deportations began, they went into hiding in a small annex behind her father’s office. For over two years, Anne, her sister Margot, her parents Otto and Edith, and four others lived in silence, relying on the courage of Dutch friends who smuggled them food and news.
Anne wasn’t just a symbol. She was a teenager—funny, sharp, sometimes rebellious, and always observant. She dreamed of being a journalist. She once wrote, “I want to go on living even after my death.” And, tragically, she did—not through her life, but through her words.
In August 1944, they were betrayed. The Gestapo stormed the annex. The Franks were deported to Westerbork, then Auschwitz, and finally Anne and Margot to Bergen-Belsen. In early 1945, both sisters died of typhus—just weeks before liberation. Anne was 15.
Only Otto Frank survived. After the war, Miep Gies, one of the helpers, handed him Anne’s diary. He published it, fulfilling her dream. Today, it has sold over 30 million copies and been translated into more than 70 languages.
Anne’s body was silenced. But her voice became immortal.
Anne’s words in today’s world
Anne once wrote:
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor, helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
She was describing Nazi roundups in Amsterdam.
But doesn’t that sound eerily like ICE raids in America today? Parents taken in the middle of the night. Children left crying, bewildered, abandoned. Different time, different uniforms—but the same cruelty.
Anne also wrote:
“We are chained to one spot, without rights, a thousand obligations… waiting for the inevitable end.”
That could be the voice of Gaza today. Entire families locked in. Starved. Bombed. Denied freedom of movement. Children asking, “Why must we suffer simply because of who we are?”
Her words, written 80 years ago, read like dispatches from the present. History is not past. It is a loop—unless we break it.
A hard, controversial mirror
Anne’s diary teaches us to look at cruelty honestly, no matter where it comes from. And one thing history proves: atrocities don’t start with bullets. They start with words.
Dehumanizing language always comes first.
So let’s talk about Gaza, as uncomfortable as this may seem.
Consider the echoes:
- Nazi leadership (1943): Heinrich Himmler at Posen: “I am referring here to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people….”
- Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (2023): On the Palestinian town of Huwara: “[Huwara] should be wiped out. I think the State of Israel should do it.”
- Hitler, Mein Kampf: Jews as “the typical parasite, a sponger who, like an infectious bacillus, keeps spreading.” Nazi propaganda routinely cast Jews as vermin.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (2023): Announcing a siege of Gaza: “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel… We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”
- Nazi propaganda (Goebbels echoing Hitler): Jews blamed collectively for war, threatened with “extermination.”
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog (2023): “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible….” — words widely criticized as endorsing collective punishment.
- Nazi euphemisms: “Evacuation” as code for extermination.
- Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (2023): Suggesting a nuclear strike on Gaza was “one of the options.”
Different contexts. Different scales. But the same pattern.
Dehumanize → Justify → Destroy.
Anne Frank’s words remind us: when we hear this language, it is never “just rhetoric.” It is the runway to cruelty.
You see, cruelty always begins the same way: when leaders tell us to fear “the other.”
Fear the immigrant.
Fear the refugee.
Fear the neighbor who looks different.
Fear the people beyond your border.
That is the oldest political trick in the book. And it works—unless we refuse to buy it.
Anne Frank didn’t write her diary so we could cry in museums. She wrote it so we could recognize her suffering in others—and have the courage to stop it.
Why giving people a chance matters
This message hit me with even greater force because, while in Amsterdam, I also had a chance encounter.
I bumped into a young Syrian man who once worked for me back in 2016. At the time, he was a refugee in Malaysia. He and his friend had escaped a country torn apart by war. One had seen his home blown to rubble. The other had lost a brother when a bomb fell on the very place his brother was resting.
Both had lived through horrors most of us can barely imagine. And yet, when I met them, I didn’t just see refugees. I saw brilliant young minds. I saw hope, determination, and resilience.
That year, I had an idea for a new learning model called Quest and needed someone to build the app. These two young Syrians built it in record time. That app became the Mindvalley app—today used by millions worldwide and even featured in 200,000 Apple stores on the iPad.
Yes, our app was built by Syrians. Yes, it was built by refugees who were given a chance.
Anne never got her chance. But when we give people that chance, look what can happen.
This is why I am so adamant about this message. When politicians tell you to fear refugees, or immigrants, or minorities, they’re not just lying. They are robbing humanity of its future.
The rule we must all live by
If there’s one rule we must all live by, it’s this:
The moment a leader tells you to fear refugees, minorities, or immigrants, you are looking at a tyrant.
Do not believe them. Do not reward their fear with your silence—or your vote.
Because fear divides. And division always leads to cruelty.
What the world needs now is unity.
Unity across stripes, colors, races, and ethnicities. Unity across cultures, religions, and especially across borders.
Because the only way we solve the greatest challenges facing humanity—from climate change to war to poverty—is to remember this truth:
We are one humanity.
And kindness cannot stop at the invisible lines of race, religion, or border.
The higher vision
Anne Frank once wrote:
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
That may be the most extraordinary line ever written. She believed it while hiding from people who wanted her dead.
If Anne could believe in human goodness then, we can believe in it now.
Let’s prove her right.
Let’s choose compassion over cruelty.
Let’s stand up for one another across borders.
Let’s silence the voices of fear not by shouting back but by choosing unity again and again.
Because Anne’s diary isn’t just a warning.
It’s a torch.
And it’s in our hands now.
So here’s what we can collectively do.
Stand for unity. Across color. Across race. Across borders. Across religions.
When you hear fear, answer with love.
When you hear division, answer with solidarity.
When a politician uses scapegoating, vote the other way.
The only way to honor Anne is to prove her right—that humanity is good at heart.
And that goodness becomes real when we act.
Because history doesn’t just happen to us. It is written by our choices—and our silence.
I’d like to hear from you: Drop a comment below—let’s create a conversation around unity, compassion, and what it means to stand for humanity in our time.
1,231 Responses
Thank you Vishen for your powerful story. A timely and very important reminder – when we think that could never happen to us, we are deluded. It can happen anywhere – especially when those of us who are privileged remain complacent. We have to wake up and be intentional about our values and ideals being enacted every day in our lives.
Ann Morgan
Thank you for bringing up the failures of humanity and pointing towards peace.
When we hold love in our being the world is a better place.
Dear Vishnen,
Thank you for being a leader who is not afraid to speak. I know it can look bleak out there, but there are more then it appears at least here in America who are standing as beacons of light holding high frequencies that help dissolve division by their very presence. This is the invisible game changer shifting consciousness. As we each become unified within that unity becomes a balm and a powerful frequency wherever we go and it begins through dissolving all of these imprints within the cellular structure. In my observation this is an excellent time for all of to use these mirrors to heal all wounds and division and finding our power together as ONE. These birthing pains are not pretty, but it is a sign that the light is shining very brightly on all shadows now both within and without. I am so grateful for you Vishnen for your love and fearlessness for humanity. All my love, Lotus
For any school in the USA to remove such important literature, trying to erase the past, it’s ridiculous, so sad. We have to learn from it. Not remove or destroy it.
Teach our future, the kids, what not to do. What was life like in those countries back them.
I’m not surprised that the leaders from the other party (liberals) do things like this, and encourage others to do so, so sad, so heart breaking, how do you let our country, your country go down like this?
Going against the stream, rocking the boat, telling the truth, aren’t easy. Respect for you Vishen.
War is tragic but to even attempt to compare what the nazis did to the Jews and what Israel was forced to do in Gaza are misguided and patently flawed. It is painful to see humanity suffering but who dismembered, raped and tortured innocent civilians first and has vowed to wipe out Israel. The muslims. Palestinians, hamas, Houthi’s, Iran and all their allied brothers who are hell bent on making a second holocaust. Shame on you to use Anna Frank and distort history. Shame on you. You think you are spreading an opinion of light love and humanity when in fact you are doing the opposite. Right is light and wrong is evil. Hamas and Islam are evil and Gods people the Jews should never again have to be the subject of such evil or a second holocaust. Perhaps Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon should now open their border and take in their brothers in Gaza.
Thank youuuuu!!!!! I appreciate your comment! I am jewish and deeply disturbed by this article.
La cosa palese è che il 7 ottobre è stata una false flag voluta proprio dalla dirigenza israeliana per avere una scusa per iniziare lo sterminio del popolo palestinese.
Certo i miliziani hanno le loro colpe ma non c’è giustificazione per lo sterminio cosciente e volontario di donne e bambini.
Ciò che sta avvenendo a Gaza è l’ esatta dinamica che venne attuata 80 anni fa dai nazisti.
Shawn,
We are all God’s children and we are all equal.
We know that to be true.
Thank you, Shawn. Spot on. See Piers Morgan interviewing Mike Huckabee. Vishen should see it. He has fallen victim to fake news and paid crying actors. He should not be using his platform to advance his opinion as it is based on lies. It is the Hamas terrorist organization that has the “genocide” policy written into its charter. The same with Iran. Jewish people do not “do” genocide. The army (IDF)contacted every civilian by phone or by dropping leaflets to evacuate areas that they were going to attack. Whoever stayed, stayed with weapons to fight. The same with “starvation” –fake pictures of emaciated kids, fake pictures of everything. There are tons of food drops and trucks bringing supplies. Israel is a Democratic country. People can voice their opinions even if we don’t agree to them. Taking quotes from various right wing people and using them as “proof” of something is ridiculous.
Thank you, Vishen, for writing about this. I have also been thinking about Gaza and Ukraine and other places where there is fighting, I see that there is no reverence for Life…the Earth’s life or her people.
As I read Nitanyahoo’s words saying that he was preventing another genocide for his own people, I thought, “Your people will not be safe until all people are safe.” Only if you work for the safety of all can your people ever be safe and loved. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”.
As I think of Putin and his assertion that part of Ukraine belongs to Russia, I think that the Earth does not belong to us; We belong to the Earth.
Wise words there.
Martin Luther King was a zionist by the way. Also Vishen should have put up some of Hamas’ quotes up (instead of taking Israeli quotes out of context to demonize Israel) – “The Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say: O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”
(Hamas Charter, 1988)
And no Anne Frank’s diary isn’t banned in Florida. Is this man an ignorant fool or is he pushing this propaganda to manipulate his subscribers ?
Thank you for being courageous enough to post your thoughts and your insights for the world to applaud or denigrate as they are so moved. To speak up is not easy, none of these realities are easy to understand, but they are clear. Do unto others…. Love as I have loved you… Love your neighbor as …. But–Bomb your neighbor, drag your neighbor sobbing from their home, throw your neighbor into a pit, rape your neighbor’s young girl, lie about your neighbor, be cruel for cruelty’s sake to your neighbor, exult in the tragedy of your neighbor, secretly rig the society against your neighbor ever achieving stability or being healthy or feeling peace, feel superior to your struggling neighbor, allowing a situation to grow where your neighbor is murdered, where your neighbor turns into a monster to defend themselves against your indifference and hatred…. none of that is excusable at bottom. The petty details can be argued, who did X first, how far did they have to get pushed. But the bottom line is — do no harm, do good with humility, with courage and with a golden heart that improves the situation to the best of your ability, rather than perpetuating the harm. Easy to feel put upon and point the finger and turn your back and feel self righteous. Hard to pick up the shovel, the pen, the blanket, the orphan and do what you can to address the situation with less judgment and more care. Again and again. Until hatred crawls back where it came from and there are no winners and losers, but all working for the good of all.
Dear Vishen,
Thank you for sharing your voice with such clarity and courage. I deeply support your message.
I appreciate that your words are not against any race, culture, political figure, or party — unless they are responsible for dehumanizing others or causing pain and suffering. Your advocacy is always for peace and unity, and that message shines through.
Your reflection on Anne Frank’s words reminds us that cruelty and division always begin in small, everyday acts, but so too does kindness and connection. If we can cultivate peace in our homes and our closest relationships, we build the foundation for unity across borders, cultures, and humanity itself.
I stand with your call for compassion, unity, and the refusal to be silent in the face of fear and division. This is also what I’ve sought to express in my book, where I share that peace begins at home — and from there, it grows into the world.
With gratitude,
Ren
Very courageous to speak about Gaza. I can’t wait to see Macron recognize Palestine as an State. Salutations from France 🇨🇵
nothing courageous about comparing Israel to Nazis – it is actually antisemitic. Something Jews experience daily in France. What do you have to say about that ? is it courageous to attack Jews in France ? to expel French Jewish kids from a plane in France ? to block Israeli kids from entering a theme park in France? to attack people on the streets for wearing a kipa? you know what would have been courageous ? to support Israel who is fighting absolute evil Hamas in Gaza ! to ask for the release of the hostages and surrender of Hamas !
As a Jewish reader and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I find this article profoundly troubling. Comparing Anne Frank and the Holocaust to today’s conflict in Gaza is offensive and historically false. The Nazis murdered 6 million Jews and 11 million others in a campaign of genocide. The Israeli government, on the other hand, is engaged in a defensive war after terrorist attacks that murdered 1200 citizens. Those are different.
Framing it this way trivializes one of history’s greatest atrocities and spreads a harmful distortion. I urge you to reconsider using these analogies, as they cause real pain and undermine the important conversations you are trying to foster.
Eva I hope you can fit it in your mind to see how offended I am personally by your comment too. This is a perfect example of people repeating the past and being so propagandized they can’t even see it. It’s how the victims become victimizers in domestic violence every day – this is it writ large.
YOU are trivializing the dehumanization of people – and that is dehumanizing to YOU!.
I am urging YOU to let the evidence of genocide penetrate all the brainwashing you have been exposed to during your life, get past the uncomfortable cognitive dissonance, and recover your own humanity for the sake of your own and your ancestors’ and descendants’ humanity and souls.
Vishen was very brave to write this knowing very well that the social environment we all live in produces this kind of denial and thinking.
Please let what he wrote sink in instead of dismissing it. It’s going to be really uncomforable but it’s vital to your soul at this time in history. And I don’t say this lightly. We are at a pivotal point in history. We must stop dehumanizing each other and rationalizing demonic behavior. It’s just time.
I am saddened by Vishen’s approach here – in his trivialization of the Holocaust for personal gain. I am disappointed by Vishen’s “pop culture approach” to complex issues of human suffering and tragedy. Comparing the actions of the Nazis to ICE, comparing the plight of Jews in the 1930’s to the situation in Gaza – is alarming, offensive and (I am guessing/hoping unintentionally) to trivialize the experience of the millions murdered. Vishen clearly appreciates a dead Jew (Anne Frank) or at least her words, which he uses to vilify Jews who are alive and strong enough to live and defend themselves against evil.
Hamas launched a barbaric offensive to rape, pillage and murder Jews. The people of Gaza who elected Hamas and support the murder, rape, and torture of Jews are now experiencing the consequences of their murderous actions and support for evil.
It is always a tragedy when war, destruction, suffering is happening. But let’s not search for ways to blame Jews, trivialize the holocaust and distort the experience and words of a murdered teenage girl for marketing and popularity and for Mindvalley branding.
I pray for compassion, healing, and end of suffering for all. I hope for the end of war and for peace in this world. I also hope that Vishen never experiences the hate and destruction that he sows in his not so subtle attack on those he chooses to vilify in this piece.
Well said Eva. Thank you for your clarity and truth
Thank you so much for having the courage to speak out.
Dear Vishen,
Thank you for sharing your voice with such clarity and courage. I deeply support your message. In my own work, I’ve written about how peace begins at home, in the way we relate to one another within our families, and how that ripple extends outward into our communities and the wider world.
Your reflection on Anne Frank’s words reminds us that cruelty and division always begin in small, everyday acts, but so too does kindness and connection. If we can cultivate peace in our homes and our closest relationships, we build the foundation for unity across borders, cultures, and humanity itself.
I stand with your call for compassion, unity, and the refusal to be silent in the face of fear and division.
With deep gratitude,
Ren
Vishen, your “movement,” as you put it, is unity. I love that. And, mine is evolution. I love that, too. With unity and evolution as two powerful movements we are expanding in the world, I believe we can quickly change the direction in which the world is currently going. It is now being said that it only takes 30% of humanity to evolve to just a little higher level of consciousness to make a dramatic shift in how we all think, act, and live together as one global family.
So glad you are speaking out about the political atrocities taking place in the world. So often, “spiritual” people bypass politics and the suffering of others. I believe only when humanity evolves past killing, war, gaslighting, and using starvation and poverty as a tool of destruction then we will be able to create a more just and egalitarian society.
Vishen, Shows your true colors as virtue signaling elite liberal who sees himself as more in touch, more compassionate, more righteous. This is a sign that your success has gone to your head and your hubris is now making you pay the price. 50% decline in revenues and 80% decline in profits is ahead. Hope you learn from your mistake being an elite liberal caught spreading liberal propaganda. You can learn from this. Change your ways.
What scares me in this world is the amount of people who have been brainwashed. Please look at other sources and don’t allow yourself to be on the wrong side of humanity when what we need now are people who stand up for humanity and the truth.
Not the kindest choice of words JCancel. I wonder what prompts you to be mean when you have the choice to let people have their own opinions & point of views.
Politically I donot have concrete views on Israel but killing of so many people at Gaza is simply unnecessary. And just by the vibes of people on either side I am inclined to support the cause of Gaza, because the people on the other side are so intolerant even of a blog post, definitely feels anti- evolutionary.
Thank you for the comment though JCancel, it makes me reflect on my stance even more deeply. Wish you well too.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. What we are witnessing is inhumane—there is no excuse, none. Thank you for daring to speak the truth with such courage. Your words are a reminder that unity, compassion, and human dignity must always rise above fear and cruelty.
I respect you Vishen. I hope that my experience touches you. I am amazed that you were right next to Anne Frank’s home. That dear, dear child. I am 75 year old and I remember my grandmother telling me about concentration camps according to my uncles who were in the military during WWII. These camps demonstrated how far hated can go. The Jews remember this. Hamas attacked Israel for no reason. This is what they want to protect themselves from. I read Lisa’s comment from August 26 and she said Anne Frank’s Diary IS recommended in Florida schools. Please have mercy on the Jews. Haven’t they dealt with enough? The comparisons you made between the Nazis and Israel shows what Israel had to face. And the 2025 Trump Administration has allocated $30 million for food aid to Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. I see caring there. I must tell you that I am a high school teacher and I was sent from the middle school when a student asked me in 2019 who I voted for. I said Trump. You say there is hated now. I experienced the hatred during the former Administration. One person I know of was removed from Twitter a few years back when he showed an image of an American flag. And as for the racism that Republicans have been accused of my classes are Latino and African American. I think of them as my grandchildren. I have heard (don’t know if it is fake news or not) that ICE is entering schools. If they come to my classroom, I will ask them to take me and I am a white MAGA Republican. Maybe you think we are haters because that’s all that is broadcasted (unless you watch Newsmax). You will never hear the good that Trump is doing by watching the liberal media. Please take a look at my side. We are under attack because the truth is ignored. Seek the truth. Thank you, Vishen.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Vishen.
Thank you, Vishen, for your courage in raising such important political and human questions, and for daring to share uncomfortable truths, even when that means facing diverse standpoints. You speak when many remain silent, and that is what truly makes a difference.
I also believe we create history every day—through the way we think, speak, and act. Compassion, for me, is one of the most apparent forms of awareness and understanding: first of ourselves, and then of others. Sadly, inner conflict often reflects in our political choices, our relationships, and even in the small, routine decisions we make. This is why self-awareness and compassion are not just personal values, but the foundation for a better society.
I deeply value Mindvalley because it helps us grow in this direction. It has already made a huge positive impact in my life, and I am certain it will continue to do so for many more people.