Anne Frank quote .. can anyone help?

When I was a child I had a copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank" and it was one of my favorite books.

Now, I can't swear to this (maybe I dreamed it?) but I THINK there was something in the forward, or preface, or something, of that book, by someone, that went something like this:

While Adolf Hitler was commanding the world stage, speaking to hundreds of thousands to thunderous applause, moving huge armies all over Europe, Anne Frank was, unseen and unknown, quietly penning her diary in her small annex.

Now, no one listens to the rantings of Adolf Hitler, but Anne's inspirational words have been read by millions all over the world, and her voice continues to be heard.

(COMPLETELY paraphrased! The original was much more eloquent .. but this was the basic idea.)

More after the jump...

I thought maybe this was the introduction written by Eleanor Roosevelt, but when I got another copy and read what Eleanor had written, it was not the same.

Does ANYONE know this quote? I find this one of the most meaningful things I have ever read ... just thinking about it moves me to tears.  I would love to find the actual quote.  I've googled and googled and can't seem to find it. Maybe it wasn't even in the book .. maybe I read it somewhere else.

To me this says so much.  It says that truth triumphs power, ultimately.  It's one of the most hopeful things I've ever read, and I turn to it again and again in my life.  It says that a small, quiet voice telling the truth is, in the end, the most powerful thing in the world.

I think it has relevance to our situation now.  We here at DailyKos and those who agree with us feel that no one is listening to us.  We feel we are voices in the wilderness, warning our country about the hubris of the Bush administration and the religious right ... and no one is listening.  The lies and blather of the right are drowning us out .. no matter what we say, no matter what wrongs we uncover, no matter how eloquently we present our position, it seems to make no difference.

But Anne Frank tells us we should persevere and keep SPEAKING THE TRUTH ... when the history of this era is written, our voices will be the ones that people listen to and hear .. not the blathering blowhards in the White House and Congress and the right-wing echo chamber.  I think we should write as if we KNOW this will be so ... with a passion for the truth and a confidence that what we are saying is vitally important.  It IS.

•  sounds familiar.

  i would guess it is off the back blurb. try amazon, they often will show that.

  by Furious Hal on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 02:44:14 PM PDT

•  Some copies

  had an intro by Otto Frank...

  by wabegg on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 02:45:19 PM PDT

  •  As well,

    these other people have written forewords and prefaces to her diary:

    Eleanor Roosevelt (1952) --cedubose mentions this one
    George Stevens (1958)
    Storm Jameson (1973)
    Harry Paape et al. (1989)
    Ann Birstein and Alfred Kazin (1959)
    Brooks Atkinson (foreword to stage play script) (1956)

    Good luck hunting...sorry I can't help more than this.

    [Source]

    by osterizer on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 03:14:18 PM PDT

•  Anne Frank

  I'm afraid I can't help you with that quote, but I appreciated reading the diary anyway. The triumph of Anne Frank can always lift my spirits. I think it was the History Channel that did a documentary not too long ago about the her legacy and the unpublished pages of her diary. It's worth checking out when it comes around again.

  by outragemeter on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 02:46:09 PM PDT

•  Anne Frank's House

  Visit the Netherlands and you'll find Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam.

  I agree with above post, addition most likely by Otto Frank.

  In 2005 - Be liberal: Support our Allies of Democracy on Human Rights, the Environment, Gay and Minority Rights & EU and UN Third World Development Programs & Our Friends

  by creve coeur on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 03:05:37 PM PDT

•  sorry

  I can't help you either but thanks for writing.

  http://kydem.blogspot.com

  by dsolzman on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 03:20:08 PM PDT

•  Thanks!

  I will give these sources a shot .. thanks for reading.

  Interesting about the movie ... Millie Perkins, who played Anne, was from my home town of Fair Lawn, NJ.  I don't know if she ever appeared in anything else.

  by cedubose on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 03:40:50 PM PDT

•  Have you posted on the Anne Frank boards?

  Beautiful post, Cedubose!

  The Anne Frank Internet Guide links to two discussion boards.  One of them might prove to be a quick route to a good answer if you haven't been there/done that already without luck.

  Throwing yourself at the mercy of a librarian, especially a college librarian, might also be a productive option, given the number of forewords out there.  Interlibrary loan might round up the whole herd for you to examine.

  ~~~  T A N G E N T    A L E R T  ~~~

  While I was clicking around just now going yes, yes, quotes BY Anne Frank, how about quotes ON Anne Frank, I came across something I didn't know existed: film footage of her.

  You need QuickTime to watch it.  It's just a tiny bit of film -- it's 1941 and she's looking out a window at a neighbor's wedding.  

  http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?PID=475&LID=2

  I'm sitting here stunned.  The face frozen in half a dozen photos is suddenly alive.  Her hair's tossing.  She's talking to someone behind her in the apartment.  She would be about twelve and has another four years to live.

  Having read the book when I was about the same age she was at the start of the diary, I feel kind of like I've known her all my life -- and yet somehow I just "saw" her for the first time.

  Also came across some of the white supremacist and Holocaust denier sites attacking the book.  If there's one thing the intolerant can't tolerate it's the tolerant.

  (Why is it that the white supremacists themselves are the best evidence anywhere that there's nothing supreme about them?)
  

  by KateCrashes on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 07:56:30 PM PDT

  •  Wow!

    Thanks for the compliment, KateCrashes, and especially thanks for dredging up that video -- that is amazing.  I guess this was before she went into hiding. I also had no idea there was any video of her anywhere .. it's not like people were running around with camcorders in those days!

    Thanks also for the link to Anne Frank boards .. had no idea there were such (but of course there would be..)  I will definitely check them out.

    I have a feeling this WAS a preface to some edition of the book that is no longer in print.  

    by cedubose on Mon Apr 04, 2005 at 12:15:16 AM PDT

•  Anne Frank

  I haven't read Anne Frank but i swear I heard that her favorite actor was Robert Stack and she treasured the picture she had of him.

  by skidrow on Sun Apr 03, 2005 at 11:54:13 PM PDT