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.
1,254 Responses
I studied Anne Frank when I was 19 and from my point of view whatever is written by this 15 year old is worth every word. Not only for our children to learn about history and war but to learn and acknowledge the level of intelligence and maturity of a 15 year old girl at that time. Being a teacher for the past 21 years, I have personally witnessed the decadence of education system. Shockingly enough I must say as we are living in an age of information and most recently AI. Technology is taking over but the stakes are high. Part information are considered Godly and most are choosing to just ignore. Wake up sleeping souls. It is high time we rise up to the power of Human abilities 🙏
No entiendo el conflicto real de estos humanos, solo entiendo el odio entre hermanos, hijos de Dios. He visto como desde ambas culturas les infunden a los niños un odio entre sí, casi absurdo e inexplicable. Seguir con estas cadenas que solo propenden destrucción y mostrar la peor cara de los seres humanos; cómo es posible que sigan avivando este odio, cuando lo que se requiere es paz, armonía e integralidad con nuestra madre tierra, en nuestro paso por la vida. Me parece tan irreal como una madre pueda transmitir esto a un hijo, pero tristemente son los mensajes que transmiten.
Extremely profound and well written. Thank you for sharing these words and providing actionable steps we can all take to foster more compassion and unity
You are saying exactly what is in my heart. I pray families teach this truth to their children in both word and deed.
I hope NOT! This is a false interpretation and a twisted narrative of the facts! On this subject educate yourself somewhere else
I hope everyone can find a way to spread this message to counter the hate being spread in the USA. Mindvalley is a big organization – we should be able to make a difference.
Not with these lies presented in this article! Extremely disappointed in this company! I am considering asking for a refund!
Thank you for the uplifting message Vishen! I agree with you 100%- what we need is unity, love & understanding vs segregation, aggression and cruelty. When we unify, our planet and humanity as a whole, becomes stronger and more harmoniuous. Please keep up the good work – your voice, like all our voices – have the power to change for good.
I think that these are patterns of our past and as Mindvalley coaches we should inspire the society that we can reach to break them.And stop living in fear of differences.
Thank you so, so much for your words and I am deeply touched by them. Thank you for opening your platform for it.
We must be loud and louder, when it comes up to cruelty and injustice and yes it all starts with words.
Thank you, Vishen, for your sensitivity to the plight of Anne Frank whose words resound today as much as they did post World War II. Cruelty and hatred are traits that can be encountered and are growing throughout the world right now. Scapegoating, blaming of “the other”, the desire to squash debate, to physically exterminate the human soul and body whatever the costs are universal blights . Your comparison between Nazism and what is happening in this country today does not exempt any other country from their own version of it. Wars have to be fought unfortunately to “right” the road toward human rights, not to do away with them. Any nation state has the right to defend itself, but not to the point of indiscriminately obliterating human beings and their environments. We must always separate government actions from the people they are supposed to represent and care for. When the one is out of control over the other, that must be understood and acknowledged. And action for good and for real justice must be taken. We need to stand up for what is honorable and just. We need to promote the good and the decent in us in every way we can.
As a Palestinian who has been denied the right to ever see her country of origin, whose grandparents were expelled from their own lands and farms through force, torment, and imprisonment (long before 7 October- 1976), and as a Syrian who has never been able to visit yet because of the crimes of the former oppressive regime, I was in tears reading your article, Vishen. It means so much to be seen, to be heard, and to be spoken for, and you have done that in your writing. Thank you for standing against genocide, thank you for standing against starvation, and thank you for standing against hate.
As a child of asylum seekers growing up in the UK, I am blessed that I did not have to witness what my people in Palestine have endured, but I still hear their pain in their conversations with my parents, I hear of the young groom sniped dead the night before his wedding, I hear of the young man killed by a sniper as he waited in excitement to welcome his brother from Iseali prisons, and I see the fear in their hesitation to share information as they are stopped at checkpoints. Even though your article is long overdue, it is deeply appreciated. For so long you have spoken about human development, transcendence, and healing, and that message carries true meaning only when we stand for human life.
It will be advised to find your origins! Palestine or palestinian is an invented title, name! It NEVER existed only that Romans nicknamed the people in the territory “philistines” hence “palestines” adopted title. Otherwise these are all arabs and interesting that NO Arab countries want them! Living a lie is something to cry for!
Stop with the political agendas. You are just another ignorant, uninformed, Unknowledgeable person using his wide platform to spread bias shallow fake news and political agenda. Stop it!
Silencing? Did you read the article?
Really wondering who was brainwashed here and fake news?? Israel is very well known for manipulating the media, history proves it.
Thank you Vishen and all those who speak up and share real facts/information. God bless
Whilst I think the situations discussed may be slightly more complicated than is being represented here, the underlying message of controlling tyrannical dictatorships manipulating the populace into accepting more and more atrocious acts against entire groups of other humans who they conveniently and falsely portray as “others” and somehow the “enemy”, is sadly entirely accurate.
What is truly sad, however, is the increasing number of people who no longer seem to need manipulating or convincing by these narcissistic power hungry self serving individuals, and the number of people who are more than happy to jump on bandwagons, join lynch mobs and attack whoever is falsely accused of being responsible for all of their imagined ills, with literally no evidence, no due process, and no trial. The mob mentality now rising up and revealing itself, condoned and enabled by these so called “leaders” is the really depressing indicator that humanity has regressed, not progressed, and we may as well still be cavemen, for all the reasoning and logic applied by these people to the treatment of their fellow men.
I have been pleasantly surprised with a couple of your recent posts, Vishen, and your courage to speak the truth when some indoctrinated folks (many with unaddressed trauma wounds) will clearly attack and condemn you for it. I hope you will continue, as your voice is sorely needed.
So many companies and business people are consumed by the specter of profits, so that they will allow their energy to collapse with fear of backlash, and won’t say anything – while unarmed civilians are intentionally starved and killed, journalists and healthcare workers targeted/killed in massively unprecedented numbers; the equivalent of 7 Hiroshima bombs dropped on a tiny strip of land – surrounded by militarized walls – with half the population being children. Now in stage 5 starvation, which many will never recover from (if they survive.) Every piece of it is obvious, blatantly genocidal, and unconscionable. We have watched Israel break international law and trample human rights on a daily basis for almost 2 years, and anyone who makes excuses for them has some serious introspection to do. None of us would ever accept these conditions for ourselves.
Mindvalley teaches so much about mindset and energy, and from that perspective, anyone who finds themselves justifying the intentional killing of children has some serious recalibrating to do. All the world’s children are our children, every single one, always (as James Baldwin said.)
Thank you Vishen for sharing your thoughts. I couldn´t agree more, and you say so clearly that it helps to understand the depth even if someone does not have the hole picture in mind.
Thank you for promoting love, unity and a higher conscience. It helps us to keep working everyone doing what is possible form their end, buet feeling part of a bigger movement.
It is deeply disturbing to see comparisons made between Anne Frank—an innocent girl who lost her life simply because she was Jewish—and Gazans, many of whom are raised under an ideology that glorifies violence and the extermination of Jews.
On October 7th, Hamas and those it calls “innocent civilians” carried out barbaric acts against Israel:
• Beheading and murdering men, women, and children.
• Burning people alive.
• Raping women.
• Cheering at the slaughter of innocents.
In Gaza, crowds celebrated the kidnapping and deaths of Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri Bibas, parading their coffins as if it were a victory. Children are indoctrinated from a young age to hate Jews, while Hamas embeds itself in schools, hospitals, and mosques—using civilians as shields while vowing to repeat the massacre of October 7 again and again.
And yet, your message makes no mention of these atrocities. Instead, all blame is placed on Israel for defending itself.
I totally agree! No mention when comparing Nazis to Hamas and the total indoctrination of children taught to hate Israel and believe in the destruction of all Jews.
I do not need a platform such as this for this type of discussion. I am disappointed with this and no different to the rest of the delusional world 😢
Thank you for using your platform to speak up.
Thank you, Vishen, for your poignant message, and for challenging us to speak out against the historic atrocities which are being repeated today.
Vishen, Thank you so very much for having the courage to speak out! So many people would have kept silent and worried about the possible impact to their business of, “getting political.” I agree with every word you wrote, and I’m even more proud of being a part of Mindvalley. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for having the courage to speak truth to power. Fear and violence go hand in hand. Each one of us needs to address the root of fear, and hence the root of violence that operates within us.
When we learn the way to dismantle that automatic and subconscious mechanism which leads us to commit acts of violence, through doing our own inner and community-based work, we stand a chance of becoming peaceful with others, not only to those who are like us, but also whom we experience as enemies, aggressors, and antagonizers—whoever that may be for us.
I have survived an intense amount of hatred and violence directed against me in the place I grew up in and from the common abuses of systemic power.
While life continues to be a daily struggle as I have chronic injuries and untold pain from the things that happened to me, I strive each day to live and internalize the principles of non-violence in thought, word, and action.
I often fail in thought, sometimes in word, but in action I do succeed. I choose not to repeat any harms I perceive being done to me.
I can choose not to retaliate, and hence to not add further to the cycle of harm being performed.
I understand how important it is to remove myself from constant contact with the aggressor. This is not always possible. For example right now I live with someone who is a bully and I can’t afford to move. Neither is there any other housing available to me at present.
So what do I do? I stay in my room or go out as much as I can. I leave early and come home late. I avoid unnecessary conversation because I don’t want to invite the contempt in their voice to be directed at me.
However I am polite and “chill”, and non-reactive when I do address them. I don’t like living like this as it doesn’t feel like a healthy home but I hope that soon a chance will come for me to move on to something better for my mental and physical health.
While I feel deep anger towards this bullying and to aggressors who in fact are all around in my daily life, at work and just around in my community, I choose not to amplify and act on those harsh feelings, except as needed only to protect life and limb.
And that is where the most misunderstanding is happening in current mass conflict events. Violence of the most extreme form is being justified as a means of protecting a people.
Violence will not resolve that way but will perpetuate and escalate conflict and cause more and more hatred and aggression to be unleashed.
I don’t pretend to have the solution for what is happening at scale in the world today. I can speak against the injustice I perceive and I do. But it feels like an inadequate response.
I know that what I can choose in my practice of daily living—and this is not at all easy—is not to react with aggression to an aggressor who is attacking.
I think of them instead as an angry bear with a thorn in their side. They may be violent and flailing and attacking me without any justifiable reason. But what choice or action on my part will bring on the ease of suffering into the situation, and also protect my own and also their life?
An imperfect analogy it is of course, but it does help me to diffuse the situation at work with a toxic angry boss. I’m also looking for another job. But in the meantime I have to deal with toxic behaviour of a boss which is often out of control and inappropriate to the context.
The question is: how do we de-escalate? The more creative a response we can find to that question and then choose to live that way, in non-violence, and non-harming, the more chance we have of recovery from the aftermath of the generational repeat cycles of violence and trauma.
I have deep empathy for the people of Gaza even though most of them cheered and danced on 10/7. But I’m very unclear as to why, in a war, you feel it’s the responsibility of the attacked (Israel) to feed its attacker (Palestinians)? That seems insane to me. If someone is holding your child hostage, is it your responsibility to make them all their meals until they return your child? To place all the responsibility of feeding their attackers on Israel when there are other Muslim countries Gaza shares borders with that want nothing to do with helping is crazy. Odd request from the world that never made any other countries fighting wars to feed them.