Growing Up With Anne Frank: Barbara Rodbell's Story

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Credit Barbara Rodbell

A group of children sit in an Amsterdam sandbox in 1937. Anne Frank is second from left and Barbara Rodbell is second from right.

In 1933, when Nazi power was surging, Barbara Rodbell's family left Germany for Amsterdam. There, in the Jewish community, Barbara and her sister became good friends with Anne Frank and her family. The Nazis began to round up Jews in Amsterdam and at age 17, Barbara chose to hide in plain sight - to pass as a non-Jew. She took off her yellow star and obtained false identification papers. She connected with a group of resistance activists, and this is how she survived.

Barbara was featured in the documentary Daring to Resist.

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