Parks, recreation and rights: Boise's Anne Frank Memorial brings Idaho together in celebration of human rights.

Fourteen-year-old Alison Kavanagh can only imagine the terror faced by Anne Frank and her family in their years of hiding in an attic to avoid persecution for their faith. "It's horrible what happened," says Kavanagh, a ninth-grader at Boise, Idaho's North Junior High School.

But Kavanagh is determined to help others learn from the experience of Anne Frank and her family. As a docent at the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, a unique, new $1.5 million park in the heart of Idaho's capital city, she'll give tours to school-children, civic groups and individuals, and teach them about the importance of human rights.

"People need to know the history of when human rights were violated so we can do something about it," she says. "If you know something is wrong, you can't keep on letting it go wrong. You have to do something about it."

Tucked into a .81-acre site along the city's popular 22.5-mile Greenbelt, the Anne Frank Memorial is just a few blocks from downtown Boise. An instant success, the tiny park has become a must-see destination for city visitors.

A Mindful Memorial

The Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial is an outdoor interactive "classroom" designed to accommodate large groups for performances and lectures as well as a quiet place for personal reflection and meditation. The memorial features:

* An 180-foot quote wall made of Idaho Travertine with 54 quotes from philosophers, poets, presidents and Anne Frank.

* Two reflective ponds and three waterfalls.

* A 90-foot reading circle.

* Engraved tablets featuring the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

* A bronze sculpture of Anne Frank.

"The memorial is representative of Idaho's values, that this is a good place to live and that we treat everyone with respect," says Les Bock, executive director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center. "The goal is to persuade people to recognize their own ethics and act on them. If they do that, then the world changes overnight."

The center raised funds and built the memorial, which was donated to the city on Aug. 16. (See the sidebar on p. 79.) A nonprofit educational organization, the center's mission is to promote respect for human dignity and foster individual responsibility for justice and peace through education. Located on city land, the site is maintained by the Boise City Parks & Recreation Department, but tours and docent training are coordinated by the center.

Community response has been overwhelming. During daylight hours, people stop to read the quotes, admire the sculpture, talk quietly and gaze at the cottonwood trees lining the nearby Boise River. Bock says the center expects to be busy this spring leading school groups from throughout the region. "The memorial is an attempt to engage people in participating in society in a way that is constructive for the common good," he says.

Building Community

A 1995 traveling exhibit about Anne Frank's diary provided the inspiration for the memorial. The wildly successful exhibit at the Boise Art Museum attracted nearly 50,000 people--the equivalent of 5 percent of the state's population. Boise human rights activists Lisa Uhlmann, Leslie Drake and Nancy Taylor brainstormed with Marilyn Shuler, former director of the state's Human Rights Commission, about how to translate the community's passion for the exhibit into a permanent memorial. Working closely with engineer Alan Terrill, they approached the city with their concept to build a statue of Anne Frank.

Boise Mayor Brent Coles pledged the city's support. Coles notes, however, that while government can lead, projects are only sustained by the support of the citizens. On the basis of the response to the Anne Frank exhibit and subsequent discussions with community leaders, the project clearly had the wholehearted endorsement of the community.

Coles believes that the memorial meets its goal of providing a public meeting space that is also a quiet place for reflection. A centerpiece of the memorial is a gentle waterfall cascading into shallow pools. "By this water feature you sense the calm and serenity," says Coles. "It takes you outside of the urban environment."

Quotes by Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Dr. Seuss, Margaret Mead and other well-known thinkers are etched into stone lining the west side of the .81-acre park. Stone benches give visitors and opportunity to "stop, think and ponder," says Coles.

Perhaps the most powerful part of the park is a bronze statue of Anne Frank, seen opening imaginary curtains at a stone window. "When you see Anne Frank parting the drapes, you sense a young, free spirit confined," says Coles. Even while living hidden behind a bookcase, the diary shows that "she still thinks people are good."

Coles is proud of the "educational system" built along the city's public Greenbelt. The Human Rights Memorial joins a series of instructional structures, including a nature center and fish observatory, zoo, historical museum, art museum, literary center, public library and the Black History Museum--one of only a few such institutions in the nation.

A Capital Idea

As Idaho's capital, Boise is a natural home for a statewide human rights memorial. Financial support for the memorial came from contributors across the state. Nearly 3,000 people, foundations and companies donated time, money and expertise for the project. Hundreds of Idaho children from 44 schools pitched in $40,000 for the bronze sculpture of Anne Frank. A $250,000 challenge grant from the Greg Carr Foundation gave fund raising its final push. Carr, a businessman from Idaho Falls, Idaho, who is committed to human rights causes, also donated the services of architect Kurt Karst.

The bronze sculpture of Anne Frank by artist Greg Stone is located at the center of an amphitheater ringed with benches and brink pavers. Donors who purchased pavers selected personal messages to carve into the brick. Many of their sentiments mirror the spirit of the memorial: "Do justice, be kind, walk humbly with God," "For peace everywhere now and in the future" and "Ye are the fruits of one tree."

Jim Hall, director of the Boise Parks & Recreation Department, was thoughtful about selecting a site for the memorial. Working closely with community volunteers, he looked for a convenient and accessible area that "would have the most public visibility" The location at "the apex" of the Greenbelt, the cultural district and a major arterial, "shows the community the significance of the facility," he says.

Between 1996 and 2002, the project underwent several renditions and cost estimates. With Karst's design, the center was able to bring the memorial in line with the $1.5 million budget. Although there were some disagreements about quotes displayed on the memorial walls, the Parks & Recreation Board of Commissioners approved the project, then forwarded it to the City Council where it won approval.

Project maintenance received a financial boost from the Capital City Development Corporation, a downtown redevelopment agency that extended its boundaries to include the site. The corporation considered the memorial to be an enhancement project that would help draw business downtown, says Hall.

Maintenance includes landscaping, litter removal, mowing, cleaning, fountain and vandalism repairs, lighting and security.

While unique, the memorial merely enhances what traditional park and recreation programs already do best, says Hall--they bring diverse people together. "In a parks and recreation setting, people really are equal compared to other settings," he says.

"It's something we do every day, but we should be purposeful to bring people of diverse backgrounds into parks and recreation settings," says Hall. "We have to emphasize that we're making a conscious effort to bring people together in a common setting where they can learn about each other and accept their differences."

Bock and the Idaho Human Rights Education Center hope to expand the scope of the memorial to include a traveling exhibit. Bock regularly gives presentations to civic and community groups about the memorial and human rights issues.

Educators are already integrating the memorial into the curriculum. North Junior High School history teacher Paula Hill uses quotes from the memorial in her classroom discussions about current events, equal opportunities and equal rights. Next spring, she plans to take her ninth-graders on a field trip to the memorial. "I think it's an incredible learning tool for educators," says Hill.

Her ninth-grade students can benefit from the wisdom of Anne Frank's words written in captivity Her diary can show "how motivated one person can be to do something to benefit human kind."

RELATED ARTICLE: Dedicated to Human Rights.

The dedication of the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial on Aug. 16 was a statewide celebration honoring the nearly 3,000 donors to the project. Children from 44 schools throughout Idaho contributed nearly $40,000 to the memorial. The celebration included:

* Remarks by Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Boise Mayor Brent Coles and Marilyn Shuler, former director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission.

* Rhythm Dogs musical youth group.

* Gospel singer Cherie Buckner-Webb.

* Reading from Anne Frank's diary by New York actress Aysan Celik.

* Boise State University Trumpet Trio.

The event received worldwide coverage from the New York Times, CNN and publications in Israel.

For more information about the memorial, contact the Idaho Human Rights Education Center at www.idaho-human rights.org or 208-345-0304, or the Boise Parks & Recreation Department at www.cityofboise.org/parks or 208-384-4240.

Amy Stahl is the community relations coordinator for the Boise Parks & Recreation Department. To learn more about the department's partnerships, contact her at [e-mail].