Replica of Anne Frank annex opens inside Liverpool church

The port city of Liverpool, England is unveiling an exhibition on Saturday dedicated to the Jewish teenager Anne Frank, placing a reconstruction of her bedroom in Amsterdam beneath the towering arches of Liverpool's neo-Gothic Anglican cathedral. Organizers hope using a church to house a replica of the room where Frank wrote her diary will demonstrate tolerance in a city afflicted by gang violence and gun crime. The exhibition, near the main entrance, is part of a series of commemorations this month in Liverpool to mark the Holocaust. "(The exhibition) conveys a powerful message of hope from Anne Frank's diary in a world that needs it, Canon Anthony Hawley said on Friday. Organizer Jerry Goldman acknowledged that he had reservations about placing the replica in a church. The city's Jewish elementary and high schools have banned its Jewish pupils from participating. But Goldman hopes that thousands of other children in the area who are scheduled to attend will look at their own behavior - and ask themselves about the consequences of hatred and intolerance.(AP/05.01.2008)