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.
719 Responses
No, it is not the same
❌ Myth vs ✅ Fact: Anne Frank’s Diary in Florida
❌ Myth:
“Florida banned Anne Frank’s diary for political reasons.”
✅ Fact:
• The original diary is still taught and even recommended in Florida schools.
• A graphic novel adaptation was pulled in a few districts after challenges over sexual illustrations (based directly on Anne’s own writings).
• One district briefly placed the original under review, but it was not banned statewide.
• Florida’s official curriculum still lists Anne Frank’s diary as recommended reading.
🔑 Takeaway:
This is about age-appropriateness of illustrations, not about erasing history.
Anne’s words still guide classrooms today — and honoring her means telling the truth, not twisting it for politics.
Out of all of the takeaways from what Vishen had to say… you’re fat checking the ones piece he was slightly off on?
Vishen is outside the US but his words are true for many of us who are in the middle of this chaos. You speak of twisting for politics, but to pretend that what’s going on, isn’t tyranny or racism is its own instead of middle gymnastics.
How dare this man use this platform used by people who need spiritual guidance – how dare he spread lies and political ideology ?? So shameful. I expect an apology. I will send this man the debunking of all his lies on Israel and Gaza. And Anne Frank. As if Anne Frank would have been against Israel… totally demented. And actually diabolical
Thank you for sharing this and how grateful I am for that Airbnb to be right next to Anne’s house. We live in Belgium (which is pretty close to Amsterdam) and we DID study her book at school.
Just before the COVID lockdowns began, I took my daughters (back then 18-24 yrs old) to see a World War II musical here in Belgium. The production showed how our country was torn apart – people divided into those who hated Jewish people and those who hated Germans.
One scene particularly struck us: a clip from Nazi propaganda films where Jewish people were compared to rats, with government warnings about the danger they posed to society.
When we left the theater, my daughters were outraged, indignant. “How on earth could people believe that?!” they asked. “How could they fall for such obvious manipulation?”
I remember saying to them, “Beware. The same thing will happen again.”
Just months later, it did.
The COVID pandemic arrived, and suddenly people were divided again. Not over Jewish people or Germans this time – but over vaccination status. Just as you say: different subject, different words, same psychological principle. The same us-versus-them mentality.
And my own daughters – the same wise young women who had been so outraged at how people could fall for Nazi propaganda – couldn’t see through it this time.
They couldn’t recognize the pattern when it was happening in their own present moment, dressed in different clothes, targeting different groups, using different justifications. They believed what was on the news, wanted to belong to their group of friends.
That’s the tragedy, isn’t it? We think we’re immune to these patterns because we can see them clearly in history. But when they’re unfolding in real time, we become just as susceptible as every generation before us.
Same certainty that “this time is different.”
It never is.
Such a narrow minded, inflated (liberal) view to compare the Nazis with ICE. Most Americans do not appreciate the rate at which illegal immigrants stormed into the country. We cannot support them all. If you don’t live here in a Texas border town, you have no perspective and should keep your opinions to yourself. Where do you live? Maybe we should send them all there and you can feed, house and support them? How would that go over? Just like when Florida sent only 50 of them to Martha’s Vineyard, right? Even the New York Post reported that the citizens were outraged. Again, if you don’t understand the issue, keep silent, please.
Not saying the issue you state is not real but also ask that you consider your own narrow mindedness. The fact that immigration is out of control doesn’t mean it’s ok for Ice agents to take people who are in the process of legally becoming citizens instead of all of the criminals they claimed they’d free us from. It’s about the cruelty, which is exactly how it links to Nazi’s.
Great comment Totally out of line VL. He should stay in his lane
How about the disgusting comparison between Gaza and Ww2 ? And those quotes taken completely out of context ! No sir Israel is not the new nazi ! No sir Anne Frank would not have spoken like that. Who are you even to suggest that ? Some fake wellbeing guru ? Is this app just a propaganda brainwashing tool ?? How about you tell them about Hamas and what they did on October 7 and what they do to Palestinians ? This is outrageous and will not stay unanswered ! You need a bit of holocaust education and history education about Israel ! Shame on you sir !
You forget that it is a war, that began when the Gaza people put babys in the oven, cut head off, raped mother in front of their children and than murdered them..
You take some part of the picture and forget (?) To show the bigger one.
What about responsibility?
Thank you so much for having the courage to speak. Many public figures and businesses don’t dare talking.
We’re living in a world with more and more evil.
B and B has so many houses on their websites that were stolen from Palestinian families.
We can pray for peace and boycott the supporters of genocide enablers.
I loved you and mindvalley and I love you both even more. I can’t wait for my finances to improve to become a member.
Amina Karine Kermous
Hello Vishen and the Mindvalley community,
I want to salute you, Vishen, for your bravery in standing up and showing what kind of leader you truly are—a leader who dares to be controversial, to speak words that not everyone may agree with, yet are rooted in your sense of truth.
You express a feeling that transcends politics: that no act of war or disregard for human life—whether from Hamas or Israel—can ever be justified or tolerated.
Many choose to remain behind the curtain, watching from a distance. But your voice brings light to silence.
In my eyes, you have lifted Mindvalley and its teachings to a new level.
I hope your words inspire other leaders to speak—not from fear, but from the heart.
Thank you for continuing to address the insanity that is playing out in the U.S. and abroad.
I wholeheartedly feel the same, the injustices playing out are beyond my wildest imagination and at the same time, are such paralels to horrors of the past.
From the perspective of the US, I think we’re doing some major shadow work right now. And I think it benefits everyone around the world, as they observe from the outside and solidify their stance for or against the blatant hatred and fear mongering. We can serve as a mirror to the world, and while it’s very ugly to see, it is necessary. We can’t move past our deepest, ugliest parts if we don’t truly reckon with them. That is where we are.
Personally I think the US is going through a very transformative time, where we get to leave the fear and hatred behind post this last outburst.
Let’s send light to our entire planet. We will turn the page of this dark chapter of humanity once in for all.
Thank you Mr. Lakhiani for showing us the truth. We are one. Mindvalley WILL change the world for better. It’s changing my world for the better. Let’s continue together to make this world an incredible place to live. Looking forward to being part of the teaching team of Mindvalley some day.
Well written and so true. The World around us is changing and the America we once looked up to as beacon of hope is disappearing. Thank you for sharing that and let’s pray to the Almighty that future will be better and continue to have hope in mankind.
Choosing to acknowledge our common origin, our common air and water is deeper and truer than politics. Every time we look for the good in ourselves and others builds bridges and a future for the worlds children. From a Nana of 6.
Vischen,
Why are you doing this? Shameful. Change the channel…better yet, research it first.
The majority of Americans are of immigrant dissent. I feel extremely protected by ICE as well as the Police. Please understand the “extra” word in front of immigrant is “illegal”, what is so hard to understand about this? Sad? yes. I welcome all into our Country. Let’s just do it legally.
And to quote some others….
“I asked ChatGPT about this and here was the reply:
Here’s the situation: The full original edition of The Diary of Anne Frank has not been banned in Florida schools. It’s still part of the state’s recommended reading lists and required Holocaust education curriculum. Instead, what was removed in one district was a specific graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary. Here’s the breakdown:
⸻
What Was Removed — And What Wasn’t
** Removed:** At Vero Beach High School (Indian River County), a graphic novel adaptation titled Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation was pulled from the library. A local chapter of Moms for Liberty challenged it, arguing that it minimized the Holocaust and contained “not age appropriate” content, including imagery of Anne observing nude statues and asking a friend to expose themselves  .
** Still Available:** The original diary—The Diary of a Young Girl—remains available and continues to be taught as required Holocaust education in Florida schools”
1. Check The Guardian the Diary of Anne Frank is being banned across multiple Florida school districts so instead of simply having ChatGPT summarize your life for you maybe go and do some actual time consuming research. 2. What is happening in our country right now is not simply the removal of ‘illegal immigrants’ but DETAINING them in camps with recorded terrible living conditions similar to that of animals bred for slaughter. Some of the detainees are citizens, others have asylum, work, or fiancé visas, and regardless they are being threatened with being shipped off to other countries they are not from to be held in their prison systems because the US prison system is so overcrowded. 3. I could go on and on but I suggest that you do a channeling compassion meditation, do some actual research instead of asking ChatGPT, and trying to imagine what it would be like if you happened to be born in a country with a shit government, fist fed lies of this amazing land of dreams and opportunity, risk everything to go to said land, work hard to be a functioning part of said land, before being ripped away from your family and called an illegal job-stealing mutt.
Michelle, I feel your passion through your comment here, but it sounds as though it is misplaced. Are you aware that being undocumented in this country is not a crime, but merely a civil offense? What is more, many immigrants who have come to this country and are working through the system “legally” are being ambushed by ICE at their legal immigration appointments. If you support legal immigration, then please support legal immigration.
Vishen glad you used your platform to highlight the horrors of Gaza. We cannot hope to grow as individuals while this nightmare is visited on humanity. I’ve never felt so powerless and shocked by the degradation of our fellow humans.
While we know history repeats I could not imagine the brutality and deception that we are now witness too.
Thank you for sharing, and to everyone else who has written how all of this destruction against innocent people has made them feel. Hopeless, vulnerable and deeply saddened for the people who are being tortured, starved, raped, pulled away and killed. These poor people are being set as examples so that other people will be in fear and fall into line.
Why in 2025 do we feel that hurting, killing and using other people is ok.
This awful behavior is set in history in most nations. There has been many people across the world who have tried to run away from their homelands to create new safe lives for themselves and their families. Many hundreds of thousands have died while trying to escape. Many have been tortured for trying and many have been abused by the people pretending to help them escape.
Money and power drive both good and bad.
Narcissistic egotistical power hungry leaders will always gather momentum because they know how to manipulate people who are feeling victimized by society and are looking to someone else to change things for them. They don’t see what the narcissistic leader is really wanting (more power and the greed for it) the people looking up to them dont realize that these leaders don’t really care what happens to their people, because it’s all about their own ego, and how they manipulate with words to gain more power. None of these so called leaders are on the front line seeing what their instructions are really doing to humanity. They hide because they can.
But we vote them in. Although not all leaders are voted in some are self appointed.
People believe in what they say and become sheep.
Yet, thankfully throughout history there have been many story’s of bravery, people hiding other people who aren’t the same race, religion or colour because they believe in human life, kindness and serving others for the greater good of helping other people survive. In the future we will read or hear about that bravery again and again.
People prey every night, every day that these terrible acts will stop.
We all have to be brave and do what we can and look at the way we treat each other and not be swayed by others but reach out and help, be polite, be kind and not listen or engage in racism in any form or context. Because once you do you have picked a side and then you begin to belive you’re right.
Let’s be loving and kind to all people and stop giving power to the leaders who are trying to destroy other human life for their own agenda.
Let’s be totally honest in how we live our own lives and treat other people. Let’s help where ever we can.
Lets stop using and abusing others for cheaper clothes, food housing material goods that only get stock piled because consumerism is out of control.
War is a money maker which breeds dishonesty. Let’s be transparent and show the truth about who supply’s the guns, the destructive weapons to aid the egos of power.
Let’s be honest and let the media tell the truth about what is really going on and not silence them because we don’t want the world to see the real destruction that is happening. Let us not feed the hatred people carry.
Let us love and be loved let us respect and be kind to each other. Let us help where we can.
A graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank was banned but not the original text. So that part is inaccurate. Israel has the right to exist and defend itself. They were attacked and Israel is saying enough is enough.
Israël is way past defending itself. It’s a genocide bro.
I have long believed and taught my children to believe that “without context, words are meaningless”.
Comparing “Ice Raids” with Nazi Germany shows that you are more emotional in your reasoning than you are rational. So, what is the context here? over 10,000,000 people crossed the borders of the United States illegally.
They are not US citizens, or naturalised immigrants. Just 10,000,000 people who broke the law and forced their way into the US.
Some of these people have raped, killed, robbed and trained others to do so, I’m sure some of them are also good people. This has been going on for decades, maybe not in these numbers, but people sneak in with impunity and break the country’s laws.
It is, I think, an insult to the Jews who faced such a horrible fate at the hands of the Nazi, to say that they were illegal immigrants who broke the laws of the countries who hosted them and were for that reason rounded up and gassed. These were law abiding citizens, who were legal residents of the countries they called home, and were killed, forced out, and till this day, persecuted around the world by people who simply hate Israel. But I digress.
Removing illegal immigrants from the country is the responsibility of the Government, and they are carrying that out. They are not starving them (otherwise they would not be going on hunger strike) but the jews were starving, they are not maltreating them but the jews were maltreated, and they are not killing them but Jews were killed. Jews would have considered it mercy if they were deported from Nazi Germany, but that option was not on the table.
No Jew in Nazi Germany would be getting lawyers, seeking to remain under Nazi rule, but that is exactly what the illegal immigrants are doing in the US.
Perhaps, you may consider my words here and rethink your insensitivity to the history of the holocaust in spinning your stories, at least I hope you will give it some thought.
TV is a rut these days, and it is now acceptable to make light of the sufferings of the jews by comparing it to any inconvenience faced today, but that does not make it right.
Best regards,
Peter
I absolutely agree here on everything Peter has said here. But Vishen, I am particularly disappointed on behalf of Anne Frank that you would use her words against her own people.
No one wants innocent people to die or be hurt, but every war has casualties. This war was started by Hamas. The atrocities this terrorist organization has committed against Israel and its own people in Palestine is astounding. Listen to actual experts on this matter instead of preaching on a subject you have clearly not heard nor researched the other side of. You are extremely biased, and this does NOT create unity. Seeing the truth and pain of both sides does.
That someone as intelligent as you are has fallen into a web of confirmation bias and generality with a complete lack of nuance is very disturbing and actually makes me feel disgusted that the rest of the world will continue to not do the research before preaching their opinions. The lack of understanding Education on the middle east is astounding. Please do better.
Yes we need to figure out a way to help all innocent people on all sides of every conflict. Find a way to destroy these terrorist organizations and get the supplies directly to the innocents without Hamas stealing it from them and letting them starve, then they will be fed and free, they are literally taking the supplies. Its horrifying. Watch out who you blame. And DO NOT speak on behalf of the unwilling victim and Jewish girl in the name of those who would have gladly raped and slaughtered and starved HER. I would really appreciate that.
Big respect and admiration for your courage in speaking out on this. Keep sharing, keep talking about it, people will listen. We need the whole world to stand up against tyrany. My heart is broken and I send the people in Gaza love and prayers every day. They’re living a life most of us can’t even bear to watch.
Another one bites the dust. This is lazy, shortsighted, and arrogant. You think all of the sudden that you are a person of spiritual authority, that now is the moment of outrage in the world when you have done nothing of the sort before and fail to mention anything about other horrors going on in the world. I wonder how this makes Bernard, Gwenyth, David and other Jews in your Valley feel. Extremely careless, and subjective. Bringing up Anne Frank the Jew actually comes across as condescending and patronizing to other Jews.
Sorry Vishen but your comparison between Israeli leaders quotes and the Nazis is disgusting. While I do not agree with many of the words of some of the Israeli leaders today (and despise the current government as an Israeli), you are quoting things by Israeli president and Minister of defense said after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th 2023, where children were taken out of their beds , shot and taken as hostages, women were raped and when there are still hostages that went to dance in the Nova party and are still in captivity after nearly 2 years chained and not given any visit from the red cross or anyone. You are totally one-sided here and I’m sorry you took Mindvalley, which up to now was a tool for good and development, on the path of fake and one-sided views. Many things are handled badly today, by leaders in Israel, US and other places. But strengthening Hamas and its hatred and fanatic policy of killing jews for fanatic religious views, is something Mindvalley should not do if it truely wants a better world. And unfortunatlly that is what comes out of essay. For me – another source of what I thought wants to do good in the world (Mindvalley) also lost it in the bad path we are on.
So many of my thoughts, too. Very scary that dehumanizing is used in many countries these days, with real threats behind it (Hamas in Israel) and completely imagined (refugees in Europe, immigrants in the USA).
We need more such messages like yours, Vishen.
In a day and age where people attack anything that differs from their view and are quick to cancel– I applaud your courage to post such a well-written message and lead with the aim of unity not division, kindness not cruelty, and fuel hope.