Feburary 22, 2024 | 6pm | Tickets below

Gillian Perry has worked with the story of Anne Frank for more than 30 years, both in the UK and internationally, and has a unique perception into Anne’s life and times. She has met people who knew Anne Frank and who have shared with her their personal memories, as well as many Holocaust survivors who had parallel experiences to those Anne endured. She will take the story of Anne’s life through her family background in Frankfurt, the family’s desperate flight to Amsterdam in 1933, Anne’s emerging personality as a popular and irreverent school girl, her desperation in hiding (as described by the family’s courageous helper Miep Gies), Anne’s physical and emotional transition into an adolescent and her developing moral framework, which has proved to be an inspirational to millions. During this lecture, she will include references to the 2024 theme for international Holocaust Memorial Day, The Fragility of Freedom. She will go on to explore the surprising impact that learning about Anne Frank has had on young people in the world’s most turbulent and violent regions, as well as in some of the most challenging school environments in the USA. The lecture will be accompanied by a richly illustrated slide show.

Gillian Perry was the Co-founder and for 26 years the Executive Director of the Anne Frank Trust UK. The Trust was set up in 1990, along with family and friends of Mr Otto Frank, and takes educational programmes to combat racism, anti-Semitism, prejudice and discrimination to schools and communities in many parts of the UK.

Gillian now lectures on the life and legacy of Anne Frank, as well as many other engaging social history topics in the UK, the US and other parts of the world, as well as on international cruise ships. She has spoken at the United Nations in New York, 10 Downing Street and, in 2019, the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her first book, ‘The Legacy of Anne Frank’ was published in 2018, and her second book, due to many requests by audiences, is ‘Please Pass the Scones, A Social History of English Afternoon Tea’ which came out in April 2022.

In 2010 Gillian was awarded an MBE (Membership of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for her work in Holocaust education. In 2016, she was invited by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Director of Policy for a one-to-one meeting at the White House to advise on peer education programs. In 2019, Gillian was given the honour of a day named for her in the City of Los Altos in California in recognition of her work in education.