Obj. ID: 56969
Memorials Anne Frank statue at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, LA, USA, 2019
Name of Monument
Anne Frank Sculpture Bench and Statue, World War II Museum, New Orleans
What/Who is commemorated?
Anne Frank
Description
A trapezoid-shaped granite bench and free-standing bronze statue of Anne Frank are situated in the front of the Museum, one of a group of commemorative works importantly to the history and understanding of World War II, including a statue of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The granite bench has inscribed on its side facing the street a quotation from Anne's diary: “Sometime this terrible war will be over. Surely the time will come when we are people again, and not just Jews.”
The statue is based on photographs of Anne Frank and approximate her actual height of five feet, two inches, at the time of her death. The statue stands directly on the brick pavement without a base, so Anne Frank’s confronts the viewer at her own diminutive height. The pose is aspirational. Anne’s face is turned up, and she clutches her diary.
A plaque affixed to the angled end of the bench provides information about the life and fate of Anne Frank and her diary.
According to sculptor Ivan Schwartz, “The sculpture of Anne had to succeed in representing her innocence, which, ironically, reminds us of the horrors that surrounded her life …It reminds us that in this world, there can be this combination of terrible evil and absolute innocence.”
Inscriptions
On bench:
“Sometime this terrible war will be over. Surely the time
will come when we are people again, and not just Jews.”
Anne Frank 11 April 1944
On plaque:
Anne Frank
1929-1945
Made possible through a gift by
The Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust
After Anne Frank had to go into hiding with her German-
Jewish family in Amsterdam in July 1942, her diary became
a constant companion. She chronicled two years of her life in
the secret annex until August 1944, when the Nazis discovered
the hiding place and deported the entire family to Auschwitz.
Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15,
just weeks before liberation. Anne's powerful testimony of life
under the murderous Nazi regime was first published in 1947
and has since been translated into more than 70 languages.
Commissioned by
National World War II Museum
underwritten by a grant from the Oscar J. Tolmas Charitable Trust.
sub-set tree: 
| Founders Plaza, 524 Andrew Higgins Blvd
bronze (statue)
The Anne Frank Sculpture Bench was dedicated on September 12, 2019, at Founders’ Plaza in front of the World War II Museum’s Liberation Pavilion, The Plaza was dedicated in January 2017 and spans Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp and Magazine Streets. The plaza is the entryway to the Museum’s grounds and a setting for rest and reflection as part of the visitor experience. The Anne Frank bench and statue are near a seated bronze likeness of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and other bronze statues recall individuals and groups commemorated in the museum.
The statue was funded by the Tolmas Trust, which also helped fund three significant exhibitions in the Liberation Pavilion’s “And Then They Came For Me” gallery: “The Office,” “The Hiding Place” and “The Concentration Camp.” The Tolmas Trust said in a statement “We are proud to honor Oscar J. Tolmas’ legacy by underwriting the Anne Frank Sculpture Bench” and the three Liberation Pavilion exhibits. “We believe the combination of these sponsorships creates a beautiful and profound opportunity to honor Mr. Tolmas’ Jewish heritage and his wartime service for our country.”
Alan Smason interviewed Ivan Schwartz and described in two articles in the Crescent City Jewish News, the process of the statue’s creation. A live model and actress who had appeared on the New York stage as Anne Frank wore a dress evocative of the period, and was photographed from multiple angles hundreds of times. Historic pictures of Frank furnished by the museum in New Orleans and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam helped inform the process, and especially the modeling of Anne Frank’s face which was modeled in clay, and painstakingly measured to be three percent larger than real life. According to Schwartz, “That decision-making takes place long before we ever touch the clay … What is she meant to be doing and what do we want to convey in the making of this sculpture?” The museum and the studio determined the pose she would strike and her attitude.
Pope, John, “WWII Museum unveils Anne Frank sculpture: 'a symbol for our time as well',” Nola.com, September 13, 2019, https://www.nola.com/news/wwii-museum-unveils-anne-frank-sculpture-a-symbol-for-our-time-as-well/article_d685e178-d65f-11e9-b592-6ba34b61bb92.htm (accessed February 2, 2025)
Smason, Alan, “Anne Frank sculpture installed at Founders Plaza of WW2 Museum,” Crescent City Jewish News., https://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/anne-frank-sculpture-installed-at-founders-plaza-of-ww2-museum/ (accessed February 2, 2025)
Smason, Alan. “Sculpture of Anne Frank dedicated at WW2 Museum,” Crescent City Jewish News., https://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/sculpture-of-anne-frank-to-be-dedicated-at-ww2-museum/ (accessed February 2, 2025)