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Comments (0)A graphic novel version of Anne Frank’s biography was released in the Netherlands.
The 160-page book, launched last Friday, uses text and illustrations to tell Anne’s story and make connections between her life and historical events during the period.
According to Anne Frank House Museum spokeswoman Annemarie Bekker, the Amsterdam museum wants to use the book to make Anne’s story more available to teenagers from age 14.
“Not everyone has read Anne Frank’s diary,” she said in a statement to CNN. “The mission of the museum is to make the life story of Anne Frank accessible to as large an audience as possible, especially the younger generations.”
The biography was written by Sid Jacobson and illustrated by Ernest Colon, both Americans. They also co-created the best-selling graphic novel “The 9/11 Commission Report.”
Publisher Hill & Wang plans to release the book in the United States later this month and in Britain in the fall, with translations in German, Italian and French also planned.
Bekker said the museum plans to include the book in classroom teaching materials. Two previously published fictional comic books were successful in schools in the Netherlands.
Anne Frank’s family was forced into hiding by the Nazis when she was 13. She wrote her diary during the two years they spent in a concealed apartment, until they were arrested. She and her sister eventually were sent to Bergen-Belsen in Germany, where they both died.
A trusted friend salvaged the diary and gave it to Anne’s father, Otto, the only surviving member of the family.
Libyan Humanitarian Ship Sails for Gaza
A Libyan-sponsored humanitarian aid ship has set sail from Greece and is headed for Gaza, organizers say.
The ship, originally named the Amalthea but renamed Hope for the voyage, reportedly left Saturday night from a port southeast of Athens.
The ship, sponsored by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation and organized by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, is carrying 2,000 tons of food and medicine, 15 volunteers who want to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and 12 crew members, according to reports.
Organizers said aid on the ship includes sacks of rice and sugar, corn oil and olive paste, mostly donated from Greek companies and charities.
Greek authorities said Saturday night when the ship left that it was heading for Egypt. But Yousseuf Sawani, a director of the Gaddafi foundation, told Al Jazeera Sunday that the ship was planning to reach Gaza.
“This is definitely a part of the campaign against the ship, a campaign of distortion, but we are definitely heading towards Gaza because that is where aid should be heading to,” he told Al Jazeera.
The ship is expected to approach either Egypt or Gaza late Tuesday or Wednesday.
Officials aboard the ship said before it left port that they would not object if Israel asks to check the ship’s certificates and cargo. Additionally, they had said they would allow Israel to deliver the aid.
Organizers of a Free Gaza flotilla rejected similar offers from Israel. Israeli commandoes intercepted the six-ship flotilla on May 31; five raids were peaceful, but the sixth, aboard the largest Turkish-flagged ship, resulted in violence that left dead nine Turks, including one Turkish American. It also precipitated a crisis in Turkish-Israel relations and calls for an international investigation, which Israel and the United States have so far resisted.
The flotilla was aimed at breaching Israel’s embargo of Gaza, which is controlled by the Hamas terrorist group. Israel lifted its three-year land blockade of Gaza last month in response to international pressure.
British Envoy Apologizes for Praising Hezbollah Cleric
The British ambassador to Lebanon said she regretted praising a deceased Muslim cleric associated with Hezbollah.
Frances Guy said last Friday that she was sorry for any offense caused by a blog post two days earlier lauding Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died July 4, Reuters reported Sunday.
A new post on the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s website said that Guy’s earlier posting on the site had been an attempt to “acknowledge the spiritual significance to many of Sheikh Fadlallah and the views that he held in the latter part of his life.”
In her original post, on July 7, Guy wrote about the “passing of a decent man,” praising Fadlallah by saying “You would leave his presence feeling a better person. The world needs more men like him willing to reach out across faiths, acknowledging the reality of the modern world and daring to confront old constraints.”
A British Foreign Office spokesman said that Guy did not reflect the British government’s view.
The blog was removed Friday.
Her blog post followed on the heels of the firing of Octavia Nasr, CNN’s senior Middle East editor, who called Fadlallah a “giant” and saying in a Twitter post following his death, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”