Letters from Anne and Martin presented by CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center

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Recommended for grades 7 – 12 

At first glance, civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., and diary author and Holocaust victim Anne Frank wouldn’t have shared much in common, or so it seemed to 14-year-old Southview High School freshman Hamann Theuri. But sitting among nearly 900 fellow students while watching a performance of the play “Letters from Anne and Martin” on Wednesday at the Valentine Theatre in downtown Toledo, his mindset soon changed as stark similarities quickly emerged between the two figures.

Both of them lived under the shadow of hatred and prejudice, described reports of abuse by law enforcement, persecution by their fellow countrymen, and remained hopeful through it all that the world would one day change for the better. Reverend King and the young Frank were both born in 1929. She was killed at age 15 in 1945. Reverend King was assassinated in 1968 at age 39.

The Theuri youth said he now wonders what might have been if the two of them could have met. “They could have probably been able to really make big changes if they were able to be together as friends or colleagues,” young Theuri said Wednesday. “The play wasn’t what I expected. It really reinforced the fact that prejudice is often a dangerous thing, and if left unchecked, can lead to absolute destruction.”

This performance is presented by CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center.