Media Release

Anne Frank travelling exhibition to open at The Air Force Museum of New Zealand.

For the first time to be seen in Christchurch, as part of a three-year national tour. The Anne Frank travelling exhibition is due to open at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand on September 22^nd 2011.

The exhibition will be launched by the Minister for Culture and Heritage the Hon Chris Finlayson MP and will open to the public on 22 September 2011. It originates from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

The exhibition, which has been shown in over 150 cities round the world, is aimed at people who aren't able to visit the Anne Frank House. Using over 200 personal Frank family photographs and excerpts from Anne's famous diary, it tells the Anne Frank story against the backdrop of a general history of World War II and the Holocaust.

"No one that sees this exhibition and walks through this 'house with a story' could ever forget what racial hatred can do to a society," said Prime Minister John Key.

Using eleven large panels, the exhibition tells the story of Anne Frank and her family through a timeline with a general history of World War II and the Holocaust on one side and Anne’s personal story on the other. In this way visitors can get a full picture of how the story relates to worldwide events.

The exhibition tells the story of the Frank family's flight to The Netherlands from Nazi Germany and their two years in hiding in the secret annex at the rear of an office building. It also covers the stories of the people who helped them to hide and the others who hid with them. It movingly captures the sudden betrayal that led to their transportation to concentration camps and death.

The exhibition will include a new half-hour documentary that tells the remarkable stories of New Zealanders who survived the Holocaust or who helped people to hide. The film was specially made by well-known documentary producer Anna Cottrell with the help of Ian Fraser, giving visitors a New Zealand perspective.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to make their own contribution to the exhibition with an interactive ‘Wailing Wall’. Using very new technology, visitors can text their thoughts and messages to Anne and their messages will appear on a screen, growing in size and brightness and then fading away.

The exhibition is being brought to New Zealand by a special team, set up by the New Zealand-Netherlands Foundation and chaired by Boyd Klap QSO. Boyd said he had been delighted by the response from both sponsors and venues, and the exhibition is touring the country for three years and was opened at Te Papa in 2010.

For the current itinerary, please visit the website: www.annefrankexhibition.co.nz

The Anne Frank travelling exhibition has also gained the enthusiastic endorsement of a range of high-level groups and individuals.  Among them is the Hon Chris Finlayson, Minister for Culture and Heritage, who said:  “As the 20^th Century draws further into the past it is a very real risk that a generation of New Zealanders will have little or no awareness of the Holocaust. The exhibition’s tour to New Zealand offers a valuable opportunity, one I hope many New Zealanders will be able to access.”

This exhibition has now finished.

This exhibition explores the landscape, people, history and culture of this strife-ridden region through photographic images. Bamiyan - The heart of Afghanistan brings to life the stories and experiences of the people living in Bamiyan. It is presented through the eyes of the locals, and combines interviews and images of New Zealand Defence Force personnel working in the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the Bamiyan province.

About Bamiyan...

Lying in a remote mountainous valley and situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bamiyan is an isolated city located about 240 km west of Kabul. Rich in culture and history, and considered one of the most beautiful regions of Afghanistan, it is a small town with a bazaar at its centre and no real infrastructure such as electricity, gas, or water  supplies. Since 2003 the New Zealand Defence Force has been working with the local government to aid in the rebuilding of Bamiyan after Taliban occupation ceased in 2001.

The Taliban destroyed the colossal 175ft (53m) high buddhas carved into the mountain cliff face. These ancient statues are believed to have dated back to the fifth century A.D. and were noted as the tallest of their kind in the world. New Zealand has been in command of the PRT in Bamiyan since September 2003.

Photographs taken in Bamiyan by Royal New Zealand Air Force photographer Sergeant Chris Weissenborn are one of the main features of this exhibition currently on display at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, in Christchurch.

Bamiyan - The heart of Afghanistan opens November 26th 2010

This exhibition is kindly on loan from Pataka Museum of Arts & Cultures.

This exhibition has now finished.