About the Anne Frank Video Diary Project
The concept
Anne Frank kept a diary and rewrote her diary to be published after the war. After her death, her father fulfilled her wish. In 1947, Anne’s diary entitled Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) was published. In her diary letters, Anne spoke of her life in hiding in a personal and poignant way. In 2020, more than 70 years later, Anne addresses the viewer directly in her video diary. Anne’s diary becomes her video camera; her diary letters are turned into diary videos; her readers become her viewers. The approach is similar: Anne speaks to you directly and invites you into her world and her thoughts. One on one, personal and poignant. In a format that suits our times, for young people who are less likely to pick up a book, but who do watch videos on social media.
Educational framework
The series is embedded in an educational framework. On our social media channels and through our educational programmes, we provide clarification and information about the diary of Anne Frank and the hiding place. We made educational episodes to accompany seven of the fifteen episodes of Anne Frank video diary. The educational episodes explain and elaborate on what can be seen in the video diaries. The presenter of the educational episode goes in search of answers to the key questions of the video diary, such as: ‘Why did Anne Frank’s diary in particular become so very famous?’ or ‘Where does exclusion start?’ The background information is based on historical sources, such as Anne’s diary. Every educational episode concludes with a critical thinking question. This question links the episode to the present: the world of today’s students.
Results
The series, at the moment, has about 10 million views on YouTube, from all over the world. The top episodes are 1 and 15, with over 1.5 million views each. Also, the series was aired on NPO Zapp, the Dutch Public Broadcasters kid’s channel this spring, accounting for another 1 million views. The 7 educational video’s have about 700.000 views at the moment. Besides the numbers, the engagement rate on both the Anne Frank House YouTube and Instagram channel was beyond expectation with many young viewers asking questions, expressing their feelings and encouraging each other to either watch the series, visit the museum or read the diary itself.
https://www.annefrank.org/en/museum/web-and-digital/video-diary/