The Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise is a unique monument in a picturesque setting. The memorial is dedicated to human rights, with information about many different historical stories. Boise Parks and Recreation maintains the memorial, which is also run by the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights.
The Anne Frank memorial is located in downtown Boise along the Boise Greenbelt. The memorial was built in 2002 by the Idaho Human Rights Education Center (now the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights), and gifted to the City of Boise.
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Visiting the Anne Frank memorial in Boise was a life-changing experience for me, and it likely will be for you and your family as well. The memorial will take you through the history of human rights, especially human rights in the 20th century. Although much of it is focused on Anne Frank, there are also a number of other pieces related to other human rights atrocities.
According to the City of Boise, “the mission of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights is to promote respect for human dignity and diversity through education and to foster individual responsibility to work for justice and peace.”
The memorial is built in the shape of an amphitheatre, which allows many events to be held at the site.
There are a number of different pieces of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial:
Quote Wall
Anne Frank statue
Bethine and Frank Church Writing Table
Stone Bookcase
The Cityscape Wall and Butterfly Poem
Donor Bricks
Anne Frank Chestnut Sapling
Quote Wall
The memorial includes a 180-foot “Quote Wall,” which includes quotes from across history, by a number of famous and unknown people.
Statue of Anne Frank
You can see a life-sized bronze status of Anne Frank from the amphitheatre at the memorial. The status was sculpted showing Anne Frank looking through a curtain in her family’s hiding place.
Anne Frank’s statue was funded by students in Idaho, and you can find the names of all 44 participating schools nearby.
Bethine and Frank Church Writing Table
Senator Frank Church served Idaho from 1957 to 1981, and helped pass a Civil Rights bill. His wife, Bethine Church, also fought for numerous civil rights liberties.
On the table at the memorial, you can find a bronze copy of Anne Frank’s diary.
The Bookcase that hid the Frank family
You can see a stone copy of the bookcase that protected Frank’s family for years as they hid in the attic of a building.
There are quotes on the stone bookcase, which were all taken from Anne Frank’s diary.
The Wall and Poem
As you pass the Anne Frank memorial in Boise from the Boise Greenbelt, you will see a wall that is “reminiscent” of Amsterdam in the time Anne Frank lived there.
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The wall also features a poem by Pavel Friedmann, one of the many children who died while in concentration camps during World War II.
Donor Bricks
Donors for the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise were gifted tablets near the Frank & Bethine Church Writing Table.
Anne Frank Chestnut Sapling
The sapling may be the most impressive part of the Anne Frank memorial, but often the most overlooked.
Only 11 sites in the United States were allowed to received a sapling from the Anne Frank Chestnut Tree in Amsterdam, and Boise is one of them.
