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.
1,234 Responses
Bravo, Vishen! This needed to be said. Each of us needs to deliberately try to raise our collective level of consciousness.
Soy judía y nací judía. El antisemitismo que se ha restado está espantoso. Estuve en Israel y estuve donde fue la matanza en Nova el 7 de Octubre. Fue devastador. No estoy de acuerdo con la violencia y tampoco con declaraciones devastador algunos políticos. Amo la vida y mi trabajo es amar y dar amor. Te sigo desde hace años y vi que estabas en Amsterdam y vi saliendo gente del congreso. Te felicito por tus palabras.
También me tocó ver dos marchas por palestina con odio y terror, como
Hacer p
I have to disagree with this comparison. The Diary of Anne Frank has not been banned in Florida schools, despite claims otherwise. Also, equating ICE’s removal of individuals who are in the USA illegally (most with criminal records) to Nazi persecution of Jews in concentration camps is misleading and dangerous. The United States welcomes legal immigration—after all, we are a nation built by immigrants. But there is an important distinction between legal immigration and illegal entry. I believe influential leaders like yourself should share balanced viewpoints and clarify facts rather than framing political issues in such an extreme way.
Hi Vishen, thank you so much for speaking this very important message. Like Martin Luther King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”. We as humans, are united and the majority of us are good at heart just as Anne wrote, but we are only strong when we unite, when stand strong, speak up and act in unity.
So with the amazing platform/community you have build, you are doing just that. Thank you!
If there are any concrete actions/projects that you want to initiate to create more momentum to create change OR stop the cruelty from perpetuating, sooner and faster…I am game. Just say the word. And I am confident many mindvalley community members feel the same.
The worst feeling is when you see injustice and feel powerless in creating change or stopping it. I know we are not powerless, and our voices matter, but the cruelty keeps going on and on. So what more can we do? Would love to have containers to talk about that, organize and act.
Vishen thank you so much for bringing this to the fore. Wise wise words and so true. May we stand together to eradicate hatred. We were born pure and to love not evil and not to hate. May the oppressors have a change of heart and guided to do what is good.
Thank you so much Vishen. We all are one on the planet ship.
I love what you wrote, it’s powerful, relevant and a strong reminder of what really matters. When we strip down all our man made boundaries, and look beyond our physical differences, we are one humanity and one life. We need not let history repeat itself, we need to be conscious of the one life we are all part of. Love and blessings to you.
This article really spoke to me. Thank you for sharing this. I am going to share it on my social sites even though I may get some political lash back. I don’t care. No books, especially, historical ones should be banned. And, you are right, history doesn’t have to repeat itself but we as human beings need to use our voices and our votes to make sure that it doesn’t do that, repeat itself! Thank you again for your courage to speak out!
There are no words to add other than, how do we help?
I am so grateful that you have courageously spoken to this important subject. While it is uncomfortable, how do we grow otherwise? Peace can never truly exist without the preservation of human dignity, and the brutally honest look at what keeps us from doing that important work. Unity at the expense of someone’s well-being is not unity at all but simply a shallow veil attempting to cover up deeper and darker truths. I am very troubled by the tendency of so many in the spiritual communities (as there are many), to gaslight those who speak of justice, and of the need to continue to work toward it’s realization. I identify as a Buddhist/Taoist and quite often, the tendency to extract ideals from Buddhism/Taoism that sound nice, and fluffy, and safe, are actually weaponized to silence the voices of dissent. Thank you for reminding us Vishen, that we have a responsibility to speak truth to power, and to serve as allies with those who are the target of unjust, inhumane policies and governments. Because it may not be you, or someone that you love right now. But it can change at the blink of an eye. And then, as I wrote in one of my #1 songs What Would YOu Do?: “What would you do, if it was happening to you, what if it was your son or daughter, who couldn’t breathe and who was begging for mama, tell me the truth, what would you want others to do? Would you want them to stand idly by, while you and your loved ones die….”
Thank you Vishen. I’m a Jewish immigrant from Russia to the US and I support this message. It is definitely high time for us all to be having uncomfortable conversations.
Leave an everlasting footprint on the heart of man..
unity and compassion are done in small acts sometimes. Teach your kids not to turn a shoulder to bullying in school. Teach them to use their voice and speak up. See injustice in the grocery store, speak up kindly. We are so afraid to speak up. We have been given a voice and even if you feel like it is small, it’s not because small acts make big progress! When we speak together we come in unity!
Vishen, this is such an intelligent and thoughtful piece – and I read and see more on the genocide than my heart can manage – so this is coming from a person who’s definitely not thinking about this for the first time. I truly appreciate the structure of comparing quotes across times and using Anne’s character and voice to connect to people who may not be able to feel the injustice of the present moment. I also truly appreciate these conversations in this space. Spiritual practices must gravitate towards collective good and the wellbeing of all beings.
I love and support all your thoughts, you speak from my heart. I admire and a little envy your courage to say these things for the rest of us. <3
How disappointing to read this from you. This letter is full of misinformation, distortions and falsehoods.
It’s pure propaganda. Either you were paid to write it or you actually belief it. I’m not sure which is worse.
How do I know it’s propaganda?
1. You conflate the banning of Anne Franks diary with silencing voices. Except that those that wish to ban Anne Frank are silencing the truth. The inconvenient truth that Jews are victims of hate.
2. An entire diatribe on Gaza without mentioning Hamas. The terror organization that rules Gaza, carries out atrocities, oppressed Palestinians and seeks their death. How is that even possible?
3. Not a word about the Oct. 7th atrocities. Not a single word about the peace loving music and dance loving beautiful souls that were brutally murdered. Remember Anne Frank? She would have been raped and murdered too on Oct. 7th and for the exact same reason.
4. Cherry picked de-contextualised quotes from Israeli leaders. Some central, some esoteric. But zero quotes from Hamas leadership and other central Arab and Muslim leaders who call for the complete destruction of israel and murder of Jews. Quotes on how Oct. 7 was the most glorious day, and how it will be repeated over and over again.
5. You call for “humanity” but somehow miss the humanity of Israelis and Jews and even of Anne Frank. How dare you use her memory in this way?
I am so devastatingly disappointed Vishen. Shame on you.
I am disappointed as well. Vishen, please hear what URI is saying. I want to believe your intentions were good. And so… if that’s the case… please rewrite… please send another email including all of the above information that URI pointed out. Otherwise I’m beyond scared about the impact that your words could have added to the hatred of Jews. I’m praying this was not and is not your intention. Please write a correction email !!
This is outrageous. Hamas – the Democratically ELECTED leadership of Gaza – attacked Israel first. Killed 1200 people in a day through savage rape, putting babies in ovens while they raped his mother – so she had to hear her baby screaming being burned to death while being gang taped in her own home. Burned entire families alive – corpses of fathers and mothers and grandparents huddled around toddlers and babies found in ash. And Hamas promises to do it again repeatedly. Because it WORKED. Like this disgusting article. And the Gaza population cheered the over 200 hostages, paraded them in the streets and kicked them, beat naked women in the streets, brought their children. And when Israel defends themselves, you compare that to Nazi Germany?? No. Hamas is like Nazi Germany and Israel is the Anne Frank. If Anne Frank had an Israeli army they would have bombed Amsterdam and you would talk about the poor Dutch. Well thank God Anne Frank has an army that doesn’t answer to Mindvalley.
And I’m shocked that mindvalley would get political. This is supposed to be a place of coming together, about soulful things and each person defines that is different. One person a Jew one person is a Muslim one’s a Hindu once an atheist but mind valley is supposed to be about connecting on a level that transcends all of that. You destroyed that with this disgusting disgusting disgusting comparison. Shame on you for sinking so low and for being petty. It’s not that we disagree. It’s that instead of choosing transcendence, you chose politics.
Amen!
Please share the truth.
The GRAPHIC novel “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation”, a 2018 illustrated version was removed from the library at Vero Beach High School…
NOT the authentic original from Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, which remains in all Florida schools.
Your laziness or manipulation of the facts is shameful.
Do the right thing and share this with your followers.
Thank you Vishen! Thank you for humanizing the victims, the refugees, the Immigrants, the war victims. Thank you 😭
Hamas is evil. No way can you look at this and not realize this.
Yes, Anne says people are really good at heart. People who rape, torture, burn babies alive before their parents, murder innocent people, provoke a war, are not good. They are pure evil and must be eradicated. If they are not, this evil will continue unabated. And will spill over to the West.
Thank you for this impassioned reminder, Vishen. You called it for what it is. Your words are full of insight and passion for justice and love. Much appreciation.