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
Fantastic read! 👏 I really appreciate how clearly you explained the topic—your writing not only shows expertise but also makes the subject approachable for a wide audience. It’s rare to come across content that feels both insightful and practical at the same time. At explodingbrands.de we run a growing directory site in Germany that features businesses from many different categories. That’s why I truly value articles like yours, because they highlight how knowledge and visibility can create stronger connections between people, services, and opportunities.Keep up the great work—I’ll definitely be checking back for more of your insights! 🚀
Vishen,
Yes kindness and peace need to imminate world wide. With that said are you not mentioning all the wars and all genocides that are going on in the world. Why focus on just one? Why are we all overlooking the war in Sudan, is it because it is in Africa? Please address conflicts as a whole not just handpicked wars and genocides that show your true political stance. Please show the Russia/Ukraine war where many have been killed.
Thank you.
What is the current situation in Sudan?
Sudan has been described as facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis; nearly 25 million people are experiencing extreme hunger. On 7 January 2025, the United States said it had determined that the RSF and allied militias committed genocide. Rapid Support Forces occupy most of Darfur, and parts of Kordofan.
https://en.wikipedia.org
Sudanese civil war (2023–present) – Wikipedia
Fantastic read! 👏 I really appreciate how clearly you explained the topic—your writing not only shows expertise but also makes the subject approachable for a wide audience. It’s rare to come across content that feels both insightful and practical at the same time. At explodingbrands.de we run a growing directory site in Germany that features businesses from many different categories. That’s why I truly value articles like yours, because they highlight how knowledge and visibility can create stronger connections between people, services, and opportunities.Keep up the great work—I’ll definitely be checking back for more of your insights! 🚀
I’d like my money back for Mindvalley and for AI Mastery program. You dishonor a great Jewish girl speaking as if you were her. You bash the United States of America, its elected leader, its law enforcement. I’m waiting for your apology and humility to show up. You act like you are a leader and unifier and you are not. You are virtue signaling and bashing people all over the world as if you are some superior all knowing elite expert. You are not. How about transformational learning and practicing what you preach and honoring people who truly are standing up against unlawful evil. You’re so mixed up with your obvious failing political thoughts. Transform! You can’t hide any longer as an elite. Your thinking and elitism is disordered.
When human beings choose cruelty and hate, we lose our humanity. Kindness, compassion, unity, forgiveness become lost because it’s about winning at all costs.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts Vishen. Ann Frank’s words are very relevant and pointing out the similarities from the holocaust to situations now provides powerful clarity.
I don’t condone the actions of Hamas on October 7th 2023 but I also acknowledge that Palestinian people have suffered for decades prior to October 7th.
This war is not the answer. Too many lives have been lost, families destroyed, pain and anguish caused.
I will share your post with my family and friends to inspire unity, kindness, and love.
What on the planet made you write this blog?
I am deeply disturbed as someone who has admired your work.
Nazis/ hunted down Jews throughout Europe and North Africa and the middles east to kill every last one as the inferior subhuman race.
Israel country founded by survivors of this violence.
Jewish population still not above pre holocaust
Any cultural sensitivity training or antisemitism course, would have saved you from such a harmful privledged piss poor blog post
Gaza terrorist state whose mission is ideologically based on nazi propaganda to exterminate all Jews and the state of Israel.
Murdera every living Jew they see in the few hours they have access to citizens. Take hostages, and hold them until Israel agrees to a ceasefire of the war they started.
Starving children? Hamas fails to supply food to their people and steals aid
Killing civilians? Hamas declares war and hides in tunnels only available for terrorists , not their own civilians
End the war? Hamas refuses to return the hostages
Israeli quotes on how to deal with genocidal terrorists… have no place here
If you have no understanding of this conflict, speak to an expert in your contacts.
Want the war to end? Shout to release the hostages
Destroy Hamas: free gazans.
Israel does not have to speak kindly about the terrorist entity determined to kill its people, rape its women and hold children hostages
Israel does not have to feed and country at war with it.
Surrounding countries, have refused to take in gazans. Study what happened in Jordan, Egypt… and why no country wants them.
Lastly, do not use Jewish dead children to advocate against the Jewish nation.
That is some twisted dark stuff
Go to Israel: talk to its citizens.. take your blinders off
And Anne frank? Her grandchildren would have been burnt and raped in kibbutzim… silenced . With the participation of many normal gazan citizens.
Bravo for sharing Vishen.
Unfortunately some comments seem to reflect the concerning quest for division when we are all ONE.
Only love exists.
I am appalled by the comparison being made between the fate of the Jews in 1939–45 and what is happening in Gaza today. Must we remind you of the decades of terrorist attacks, of Hamas’s explicit and proudly declared goal to destroy not only Israel but the Jewish people themselves, of the support shown by many Gazans to the barbarity of October 7—when hundreds stormed peaceful kibbutzim to slaughter their inhabitants with their bare hands… of the celebrations in Gaza’s streets on October 7, of the festivals organized when the bodies of the Bibas children were returned? Were Europe’s Jews guilty of anything remotely like this?
How is it possible that with the influence you hold, you have not a single word for those victims, for the hostages? From your words, one would think Israel attacked Gaza without cause.
And let us not forget: Hamas could end this conflict in a single day—by laying down its arms, releasing the hostages, and recognizing Israel.
What would Anne Frank think of the way you are exploiting her memory?
You are incorrect! I’m stopping short of calling you a liar, but I can never again trust what Mindvalley publishes. Please don’t accept what your political sources trust without vetting them.
I just read your email and my jaw dropped when I read they banned her diary. So much for free speech in a “free” country.
I just finished and I’m about to publish my memoir on surviving the Dirty War in Argentina and I see the similarities in the “echoes” you shared from “leaders” saying the exact thing they were saying in Argentina when I was only 18 and lost my older sister to a brutal regime that kidnapped, tortured and killed her after terrorizing the entire family raiding our home and emptying an entire machine gun on hour home at 1:00 am. I am a survivor also and I just can’t fathom why would they ban a book like that. But I know the answer. I hope more people wake up and see through the deception….
My heart aches because of so many of the comments here that show exactly what Vishen speaks about. Thank you Vishen for this powerful reminder. Different clothes, different places, same pattern.
My heart softens with the responses who resonate with this powerful message. The ripple effect of that is what our world needs
Dear Vishen,
Your call to action has renewed my faith in both Mindvalley’s mission and in humanity itself. I’ve been a follower of your work and programs since 2014, consistently finding inspiration and energy in your vision of raising consciousness and helping people unlock their fullest potential. Through your books and courses, I’ve gained tools that have transformed my mind and my life in profound ways.
Yet, I must admit, I had my doubts at times. I wondered about your awareness of the realities unfolding in our world, and why your messaging seemed silent on such urgent matters—until today. As I write this, tears stream down my face. Your article pierced deeply into my soul, restoring my trust in you and in Mindvalley, and giving me renewed hope that justice will prevail and Palestinians will one day be delivered from bondage.
The brutality and destruction of the occupation, spanning nearly eight decades, is a truth many remain unaware of—Gaza being only the visible tip of the iceberg. And today, in America, ICE raids are tearing families apart, leaving children scarred. Against this backdrop, your voice rings out with clarity and courage. I hope it awakens many to the truth.
Your bravery, expressed at great personal risk, is both inspiring and uplifting. I deeply commend you for standing by your convictions and speaking out in a world that too often yields to tyrants and oppressive powers.
With gratitude and respect ❤️❤️❤️
I am so happy for great minds like yours , Vishen, we need to stand together and not allow this poor leadership to continue , enough already. We are awakening and you presenting to the world insight like this is a call to action.
Time to speak our truth and make truth more important then the mighty dollar in the USA. Love and speaking your truth is the most important, it is liberating and gives us purpose. Thank you for this beautiful blog, it is thought worthy and inspiration to us all .
It is horrific what is happening in America, Gaza and the Ukraine. I thought we would have learned by now. It is horrific that the world seems to be able to do nothing to stop which is inhuman. Sanctions should be extreme now to Israel and Russia and we are stopping any support for America. But governments seem to act so slowly while people are starved, bombed and ripped from their country. Appalling self-aggrandising politicians.
Vishen,
Thank you for this brave, necessary letter. You’re right: history isn’t something that happens to us; it’s shaped by our choices—and by our silences. Anne’s diary remains a mirror and a torch. It asks whether we’ll speak when language begins to thin the humanity of “the other,” and whether we’ll act before any rhetoric hardens into cruelty.
Your reflections in Amsterdam land with force. Words do the early work of harm or healing. They can prime us to turn away, or they can widen the circle of care. For me, Anne’s legacy is the discipline of refusing dehumanization—everywhere, from classrooms and newsfeeds to dinner-table talk. If we can honor the dignity of each child and family, without exception, we begin to close the runway to violence.
I’m moved by your story of the two Syrian builders. That is the world I want to help midwife: one where talent is not gated by birthplace, accent, or passport; where refuge and opportunity can meet to create tools that serve millions. Anne didn’t get her chance. We can give others theirs.
Here is what your letter calls me to do, starting now: defend the free exchange of truthful stories; interrupt scapegoating when I hear it; choose language that lifts rather than labels; support those displaced by war and want; and keep building communities where differences become sources of strength, not lines of fracture. These are small acts, but small streams join to make a river.
“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” If Anne could hold that vision in an attic under threat, surely we can steward it in the open. Let’s keep passing the torch—answering fear with courage, division with solidarity, and cynicism with the stubborn work of compassion.
Onward, together.
—Jack Miller
Thank you for your integrity !
Nosotros, como humanidad estamos diseñados para amar, trascendamos como los seres espirituales que somos, amemos solo eso.
You are an amazing human being. my admiration
Fantastic read! 👏 I really appreciate how clearly you explained the topic—your writing not only shows expertise but also makes the subject approachable for a wide audience. It’s rare to come across content that feels both insightful and practical at the same time. At explodingbrands.de we run a growing directory site in Germany that features businesses from many different categories. That’s why I truly value articles like yours, because they highlight how knowledge and visibility can create stronger connections between people, services, and opportunities.Keep up the great work—I’ll definitely be checking back for more of your insights! 🚀
Oh, aaand you’re censoring these reply comments?? You guys are simply the greatest! Thanks again for revealing yourself!