The song is not about Frank exactly. It's about the relevance of Frank in cultural history. The song is a comment on the place Frank holds in our shared cultural consciousness. As we strive to understand the holocaust, we turn to the words of this young girl. The girl is able to explain it better than anyone else because she speaks with clarity and honesty, and she speaks with an authenticity that is emotional and which touches anyone. Consequently, our collective understanding of the holocaust is shaped by the girl's diary. In this sense she is buried alive. She exists forever for what she was.
That the song is the emotional pinnacle of the album is no mistake. The song is performed loud and fast because it is ultimately a song about life. What makes the diary universally affecting is its inherent vitality. It is a book about living. Living in the face of terror, but living. It is a book that celebrates an unflinching belief in an endless human capacity. For a girl to say in the face of the Nazis that people could be basically good is a willful declaration for humanity. Thus, we confront the question of how we can go on after the holocaust. This song finds the answer in our understanding of Anne Frank. That in reading her words we can hope for humanity. That kind of hope has to be sincere and virulent. That the song is loud and fast is testament to the fact of life in the wake of unspeakable horror, of the need to hope when we find it all but impossible.
The song is not about Frank exactly. It's about the relevance of Frank in cultural history. The song is a comment on the place Frank holds in our shared cultural consciousness. As we strive to understand the holocaust, we turn to the words of this young girl. The girl is able to explain it better than anyone else because she speaks with clarity and honesty, and she speaks with an authenticity that is emotional and which touches anyone. Consequently, our collective understanding of the holocaust is shaped by the girl's diary. In this sense she is buried alive. She exists forever for what she was.
That the song is the emotional pinnacle of the album is no mistake. The song is performed loud and fast because it is ultimately a song about life. What makes the diary universally affecting is its inherent vitality. It is a book about living. Living in the face of terror, but living. It is a book that celebrates an unflinching belief in an endless human capacity. For a girl to say in the face of the Nazis that people could be basically good is a willful declaration for humanity. Thus, we confront the question of how we can go on after the holocaust. This song finds the answer in our understanding of Anne Frank. That in reading her words we can hope for humanity. That kind of hope has to be sincere and virulent. That the song is loud and fast is testament to the fact of life in the wake of unspeakable horror, of the need to hope when we find it all but impossible.