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.
1,246 Responses
Vishen,
I have always admired your work and your commitment to uplifting humanity. I truly believed you had good intentions and a clear mind. But I’m shocked and deeply disappointed by the misinformation you’ve shared.
As a mother of three beautiful Jewish children living in Florida, I can tell you firsthand: the Anne Frank book has never been banned here. Not once. In fact, our community has stood strongly with our Jewish friends—especially in the wake of the horrific events of October 7.
To see someone like you—someone who speaks so much about consciousness, truth, and mental clarity—fall for such blatant media narratives is not just disheartening; it’s alarming. I expected more from you. Much more.
It’s incredibly disappointing to see that, despite your vast knowledge of the mind, you’ve allowed yourself to be misled. I genuinely hope God grants you the wisdom to see things clearly, and the humility to correct your course.
Disappointed—but still hopeful,
👏👏👏👏
Thank you for stating what to me is obvious. i firmly believe that if we continue to destroy history, if we don’t look at the big picture we are doomed to repeat it. To me its exactly what is happening in our world today. There isn’t a place on this Earth where others aren’t being judged on what they believe People kill and commit atrocities on others for the sake of their religion or because they are different. Yes its wrong, but so is School shootings, and murdering people or prejudice because they are different. People need to stand up for what is right, we need to not Vote for the government officials that condone this behavior. As a Floridian i am appalled that books are being banned in our schools. Open your eyes and look at our world its a very scary place. Remember Germany elected Hitler
Thank you Vishen for your words!!! Words and actions that are so much needed!
❤️❤️❤️
Preface and to be CRYSTAL clear, I find the current Israeli government abhorrant.
What they are doing in Gaza is wrong.
Now, you’ve been walking just on the border for several emails now but with this you have crossed into antisemitic territory.
It may not have been your intent, but intent doesn’t erase impact.
This isn’t just criticism of Israel. It does three things that are widely recognized as antisemitic.
First, it compares Jews and Israel to Nazis. Putting quotes from Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels next to Israeli leaders is Holocaust inversion. The IHRA definition of antisemitism, adopted by dozens of governments, specifically includes “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
Second, it singles out Jews. Anne Frank’s words could apply to so many other conflicts and tragedies around the world, but this piece chooses only to weaponize her diary against Israel, the one Jewish state. That kind of selective focus is not neutral.
Third, it twists Jewish trauma. Anne Frank’s diary is one of the most sacred testimonies of Jewish suffering. Using it to portray Jews as the “new Nazis” doesn’t honor her memory. It takes Jewish pain and turns it against Jewish people.
Criticizing a government is fair and extremely necessary.
But the moment the Holocaust is used to equate Jews with Nazis, the line into antisemitism has been crossed.
And having Jewish friends does not make this any less antisemitic. (Yes I have been a devout follower for many years so I know you have Israeli friends)
100% agree. Thank you for your comments. Mine from yesterday no longer show. Vishen, glad you are opening the discussion, but so very disappointed in the message. i have come to expect more from you and Mindvalley.
This is also my message. I have my own human rights organization that deals with education and messages of hope. Let Them Learn has a similar message about human dignity and of how we all have it within us to be part of the change we seek through the realization of self love and the love we could share for others.
Thank you Vishen,
It is so true and we can do it al together; go for unity
100% agree – people are good at heart and sadly it is easy to stir people up against one another. It appears that the atrocities committed against both sides are planned in order to divide and distract us. I note that you haven’t mentioned anything about the attack on the men, women and children living in Israel. Why? They too are human beings and were savagely attacked, raped and murdered. How would a one react if those were your children/wife/husband? So difficult to forgive….but an eye for an eye is not the way.
Thank you, Vishen, for speaking out without regard for how it will impact your profit bottom line. For that alone, I feel very proud to be a member of MindValley.
This is a powerful and compelling piece that made me weep. What a world we are leaving for the children.
You are in a privileged position to speak out, as people around the world are being forbidden to speak out and are being punished for acknowledging what the world can see clearly.
One of the complaints in response to your blog post is that if the hostages were returned, this would all end. Please note that this was an option from the beginning. If there was real concern for the hostages, surely this would not be the way to save them.
Please continue to speak up for those without power whose voices are being silenced and whose lives, homes, lands, and culture are being destroyed.
We must not turn away from this and all the other nightmares that are happening around the world where people are dying because they do not count.
May something good come from this horror, may International Law be strengthened, and countries find their humanity to say never again that means never again for all.
Gracias Vishen! Quedé profundamente conmovida con tus palabras y con tu reflexión. También creo que eres valiente, al no callar.
Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con la respuesta de Eleanor. Expresan con claridad mi pensamiento al respecto.
Somos muchas las personas que tenemos confianza en dejar un mejor mundo para todos.
Creo que todos los que estamos en esta comunidad somos humanos? O me equivoco? 🤔 Es necesario recordarlo? Quien se llevará a su país entero cuando muera? Todos somos uno, y todo lo que el mundo tiene es para disfrute de todos. Imagínate cuando mueres no te llevas tus pertenencias personales. Mucho menos tú ciudad porque te adueñas de algo que no te pertenece? En cada país que se esta haciendo mucho mal pagará las consecuencias y posiblemente alli estén las personas que mas amas cuando lo entiendas será demasiado tarde, es ahora el momento de retírate del racismo a toda persona de color. A inmigrantes O refugiados. Antes que lo lamentes. Recuerda tú esencia de humanidad vuelve a ella se feliz y deja ser feliz a otros en la tierra de todos que fue hecha sin favoritismo
How brave of you Vishen!
I hope your call for peace will be heard.
As for some answers, it is human to protect one’s community but we should all have a broader perspective: to establish if something is right, ask yourself how it would feel if you were on the other side…
Thank you for your wonderfully crafted email …
Thank you for speaking up, Vishen. Its hard to believe, that even though the whole world is watching how countless innocent children and people and international journalists being murdered every single day in Gaza, there are still people, who justify what is happening. We need more people like you, especially in politics, who will stand up for the innocent.
I totally agree with everything in this blog.
Let’s never forget we are all humans. Or, even more accurate, a soul, a consciousness in a human body.
When you look at things this way, your perception will change. And then everything changes.
Sad enough, right now most governments are afraid of losing power and influence. This kind of hatred to other people and races is just birthed in that fear.
Dear Vishen,
Anna Frank (or any other Jewish in Europe) didn’t threat with violence, entered citizens homes murdered, raped and kidnaped. The Jewish people were living as you are living – without any demands, but just to live. so starting point of your article is simply not the same.
The maim outcome of the holocaust is the mandatory need of a Jewish state.
Israel surrounded by countries that wish to destroy her – can’t be happening.
Vishen, the palestinian region divided to 2: west bank (palestinian authority Gaza (Hamas) – none, but none of the cities in the west bank are fighting for Gaza, moreover, Gaza share a boarder with Egypt – the most secure boarder in the middle east. one should ask himself – why?
How about poor Yemen? Sudan? Syria? why people are flooding the streets with Palestinian flags, but not 1 for 12 year old girls forced to marry in Yemen.
Dont get me wrong – I’m not supporter of my government, I do feel sorry for the people in Gaza – BUT i have no doubt for Hamas intentions. If the good of the Palestinians people were their wish, all they needed to do is return the hostages.
Free Gaza – From Hamas.
BTW – You would have LOVED Tel Aviv
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Hamas committed an atrocity, no doubt about that. However committing an even bigger atrocity in reply, tells us all that the human race learned nothing from world war 2. Strange that jews are the only people who cannot see the analogy between what they are doing to the Palestinians and what the Nazis did to them. CHILDREN are being starved to death, they are being shot dead! It doesnt matter what race creed or politics you are that is just plain wrong! Trying to keep a whole race of people prisoners wrong! Trying to destroy a whole race of people wrong! Vishen is completely right only through unity will become strong, as one race THE HUMAN RACE.
I want to start by saying that I am not my government, I do not agree with most of what they say or do, and I can’t wait for this war to end for many many reasons, and so many of my people agree with me.
But I must say, as a Jew and an Israeli that comparing Gaza to Anne Frank and Israel to the Nazis is an awful and offensive comparison, it really hurts and really uncalled for.
I know your are all just trying to be good people who do good things, and feed of the one-sided information the media is giving you, but truth is much much more complicated than “the good vs the evil”, unfortunately it’s really not that simple,
and denying what has happened to us on October 7th is just like denying the holocaust, and forgetting that Hamas is a terrorist organization (which is a well-known FACT, not something new we made up) is also really bad for all sides and uninformed.
I wish you could open your eyes to see the whole truth and not just the propaganda, so that we could actually start a conversation instead of increasing Antisemitism.
Vishen, I hope you read all of these comments.
While responses, to your e-mail, appear to be polarized – one common denominator that I noticed, was that the people who are disagreeing with you, largely, appear to be intelligent, informed people – like Paul, for example.
Whereas, the people who are agreeing, sound more like this: Yah unity! yah compassion! etc.
That means a lot…
Thank you for sharing this important message with the world!
Linda Smit – Amsterdam
Hello, the artist manager I used to know, Moko Yapım Murat Yıldırım, may be in danger.
Those who refuse to see the similarities of nazis and Israelis seem to be living in their own little bubble. The rest of the world is watching and agreeing with Vishan! Oh yes! News alert !!! He didn’t invent the idea !!! You wanna stay in your bubble ? Your choice! But just know what is feeding your prejudice is exactly what politicians want you to see and feel. When a country with one of the most advanced army and weapons such as Israel kills more than 50 thousand and misplace millions and occupies their land in revenge for 1200 killed and abducted ( which is by the way as despicable , wrong and unacceptable ) it is hardly being seen as self defense by rest of the whole world. For the politicians to continue their agenda they definitely need your support and your prejudice! They need you to be scared of those who are different from you. And as rightly mentioned, that’s the oldest trick in the book! Sadly , a lot of people still fall for it! Including YOU, my friend!
As Albert Einstein said” “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.“ !!! But why those who observe evil don’t do anything about it or even justify it? To me the answer is beyond disturbing! It’s the lack of empathy for those who we don’t know personally!!! Just think about that.
Powerfully spoken with a clear and potent voice that is so necessary for the awakening of humanity to the atrocities that are accelerating under the Trump administration. I’m shocked that so many people’s comments are finding fault and justifying these acts of brutality. Humanity’s test is whether we have the moral fiber to treat each other with respect and dignity or we descend to dehumanization. To speak of one atrocity is not to condone others. Anne Frank lived under fascism and her journal was a warning to us all.
Thank you, Vishen, for speaking the truth! It is good to see that influential people speak about this loudly and clearly!