The Holocaust created villains and victims, but also heroes. Anne Frank is one of the most celebrated heroic victims of the Holocaust.

Frank's now famous diary chronicles the years she spent in hiding during World War II, before she perished in a concentration camp for the crime of being Jewish.

Frank's timeless story, filled with hope and despair, has come to Penn State.

Anne Frank: A History for Today opened in the HUB-Robeson Center's Robeson Gallergy on Tuesday and will be on display until April 30.

The exhibit has been touring the country since its 1998 premiere in New York City's Rockefeller Center.

Amy O'Donnell (senior-Jewish studies) resolved to bring the traveling exhibition to Penn State while visiting the house in which the Frank family hid. It has taken almost 18 months to accomplish this ambition.

"I wanted to share with students here what I learned from going to the Frank house in Amsterdam," said O'Donnell. "To this day we still discriminate. Anne's story is a lesson on how to treat one another."

Anne Frank: A History for Today juxtaposes Frank family photographs with historic photographs and records that convey the story of World War II's horrific happenings. The 55 nine-foot-high, silk screened photographs trace the tragedy from families in hiding, to concentration camps, to post-liberation survival.

"Anne is the most well-known victim of the Holocaust," said Tuvia Abramson, director of Hillel: Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. "It is important to remind the world that the Holocaust happened to real people, not just a number."

Though many individuals identify the Holocaust as an anti-Semitic act of genocide, it is more extensive.

"The Holocaust was mainly against Jews, but it's not a Jewish story. It's a human story. It's been repeated many times with other instances of humanity," said Charles Dumas, an associate professor of theater and African-American studies who is directing several Witnesses to Genocide Readings.

Numerous additional Holocaust-related events, including the Witnesses to Genocide Readings, are occurring during the Anne Frank exhibition's stay on campus.

Highlights include a presentation of the film Schindler's List, Holocaust survivor speakers, and a staged reading of the play The Diary of Anne Frank, which Dumas directed.

"The play puts a human face on the victims," explained Dumas. "The Readings put a human voice to the suffering."

Dumas said that it is essential to study the Holocaust, even though it and the Frank exhibit evoke disturbing sentiments such as discrimination, hatred and prejudice.

"If we don't become aware of the possibilities of horror, the horror can reoccur," said Dumas.

Abramson, who took Dumas' sentiment one step further, said, "If you don't take action against hatred, you might be its victim."

Caroline Eckhardt, interim head of the Jewish Studies Program, said that Anne Frank: A History for Today emphasizes hatred's destructive power.

"It's important for people to think of the hatred and indifference that allowed the Holocaust and other forms of persecution to occur," said Eckhardt. She explained, saying that it is crucial for students to reflect on persecution throughout the year, not just when a catalyst like this exhibit raises the issue.

"We constantly have to remind people of the cruelty of what happened to the Jews, and the audacity of the world that stood by quietly on the sidelines," said Abramson.

Though the world stood silently while the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis, Anne Frank had unwavering faith in humanity's goodness.

"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart," confided Frank in her diary, a year before her untimely death.

It is this hopeful attitude that distinguishes Frank as a hero among the many victims.

Anne Frank: A History for Today admission is free but reservations are recommended and can be made online at www.sa.psu.edu/galleries or by calling (814) 865-2563.