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Kennedy Says Anne Frank’s Gift to World Will Survive Her Enemies

President John F. Kennedy paid tribute here to Anne Frank in a message in which he said that, in her diary, the young Dutch Jewish girl had left “a gift that will survive her enemies.” The President’s message was read here by Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg after he had placed a wreath at the […]

September 22, 1961
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President John F. Kennedy paid tribute here to Anne Frank in a message in which he said that, in her diary, the young Dutch Jewish girl had left “a gift that will survive her enemies.” The President’s message was read here by Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg after he had placed a wreath at the house where the Frank family hid from the Nazis for two years and where Anne Frank wrote her diary.

“Of the multitude who throughout history have spoken for human dignity in times of great suffering and loss,” Mr. Kennedy declared, “no place is more compelling than that of “Anne Frank.” He said that “her humor, her humanity and her hope illuminate the hearts of men heavily clouded by the apparent willingness of those who seek power and domain over the soul of man to again deprive people of the right to live in peace, tolerance and freedom.”

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