By Sally Meyer, Writer/Director of Hanneli and Anne
I’m writing to introduce a film project that I am working on. Hanneli and Anne tells a true story between two childhood friends. It is not a widely known story about Anne Frank and her meeting with her friend Hannah (Hanneli) Pick-Goslar. Best friends since kindergarten, they were suddenly separated when Anne went into hiding with her family in 1942.
Hanneli was eventually transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she found out in 1945 that her friend Anne was on the other side of a barbed wire fence. By a miracle, they were able to find each other amongst the thousands of prisoners, and because they were so desperate to meet, they both made their way to the fence, in hopes of giving and receiving comfort to each other. Because the fence was piled high with straw, they never actually saw each other. But they were able to communicate by voice and through love.
Hanneli, although starving herself, took some food to the fence that she received from a small package from the Red Cross. She was able to throw it over the fence to Anne but another prisoner stole it from Anne. Undaunted, Hanneli returned to the fence a few days later and once again threw a small packet of food over the fence. This time, Anne was able to grab it and partake of the food.
Hanneli and Anne tells of Hannah Pick-Goslar’s courage and bravery and charity toward her dear friend Anne Frank and of the last days of Anne Frank. It tells of two young women, surrounded by horror, who in spite of everything risked their lives to meet once more. Hannah is still alive, living in Jerusalem. She has given her blessing to tell her story, and we are very excited to bring this to life through film. Our story is of courage, tolerance, loss, hope, and love.
We are very close to our goal and just need a little more to reach it. Please view the clips below, of the amazing cast that we have so far. We are still searching for the right ‘Hanneli’ so that we can honor Hannah Pick-Goslar and her posterity for many generations to come.
[…] Filmmaker Tells Little Known Story from the Life of Anne Frank […]
This is a good story to tell. I’m grateful that Hanneli is allowing it to be told. Thank you for being willing to tell it.
This sounds like an important story that needs to be brought to light. Thank you for sharing it and the project here.
What a great story to bring to light. It saddens me to think of all the stories from World War II that have been lost to us for various reasons. I wish you success with your endeavers in telling this story.