Rethinking relationships with loved ones after visiting Anne Frank Museum

Walking though the Anne Frank Museum and seeing the various remnants of her family's two years of hiding from Nazis, I found that I wasn't affected most by the pictures or the sheer amount of space they live in, but by the video footage of Holocaust survivors.

As you exit the Annex, pages of her journal are displayed in glass cabinets, neatly written on fragile pink parchment.

On the left wall is an interview of Anne's father, Otto, as he talks about his daughter and his time in the concentration camps.

What struck me most about Otto Frank's interview was that after days of reading her journal, he realized that he didn't know his daughter.

Loving someone so much and spending all of your time together, you would like to think you know them, but we are forced to realize that our want for privacy as humans overtakes every aspect of our lives.

If you were in such a situation, would you know that this loved one felt trapped in their mind or longed to make as much noise as they wanted? Probably not.

We humans are an introspective bunch. Otto Frank was just one person to point this out. So here's my question: how well do we know one another?

Now, I'm not saying you should know everything about strangers, but certainly the people you're close to.

Even so, I won't spill all my beans. But maybe given the safe space of a journal to record our thoughts, we let our candour run rampant and all of our walls go down.

Privacy is golden, but should we be like Otto — not knowing what was important to his daughter, unable to talk about it or really know Anne?

I wish that you know your loved ones like Otto wanted to, and I wish that Anne Frank knew that even in the Annex, her story would be as appreciated and iconic as it is.

Alyssa Homeniuk is one of two students blogging for CBC Manitoba about their trip to Europe for the 70th anniversary of VE-Day.