‘Anne Frank' roses at Tokyo girls' school sow desire for peace

Asahi Shimbun

2 days ago

Anne's roses executive committee members Rino Nakamura, left, and Haruka Minami pose with roses of the 'Souvenir d'Anne Frank' variety in glorious full bloom on a flower bed at Tokyo Jogakkan Middle School & High School, in the capital's Shibuya Ward, on April 26. (Eriko Noda)
Roses named in honor of a young holocaust victim continue to be raised with great care at a girls' school in Tokyo a quarter-century after the bush first arrived as a gift.
Officials of Tokyo Jogakkan Middle School & High School, in the capital's Shibuya Ward, began growing 'Souvenir d'Anne Frank' roses 25 years ago, hoping that tending the flowers would help students connect with history and grow a desire for peace in their hearts.
The flowers, more commonly referred to as 'Anne's roses,' bloomed in full glory once again this spring.
The Belgian horticulturist who developed this rose variety named it in memory of Anne Frank (1929-1945), the famed author of 'The Diary of a Young Girl,' who perished in a concentration camp during World War II.
Roses of the Souvenir d'Anne Frank variety were donated to Japan through Anne's father, and are treasured as symbols of peace in the various places they are grown across the country.
The radiant flowers are red as buds, but become orange and, later, light pink after they open.
The roses came to the school in the spring of 2000, when Machiyo Kurokawa (1929-2011), a Tokyo Jogakkan alumna and researcher of Anne Frank, donated a bush of Anne's roses, which the school then planted on the grounds.
Several students volunteered to form the 'Anne's roses executive committee' to tend the plant with care, water it three times a week, weed it and prune it.
Grafting has since allowed the Anne Frank roses to multiply to more than 60 bushes.
'We couldn't have just allowed that one precious plant to wither,' recalled Takaaki Fukuhara, principal of the girls' school.
School officials also organized peace education programs, which continue to this day, to help students learn about the historical background of the roses.
These include tours to the Anne's Rose Church in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and the Holocaust Education Center, Japan, in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, to learn about the Holocaust.
In the meantime, the Anne's roses executive committee has grown to around 100 students from all six grades of Tokyo Jogakkan's junior high school and senior high school divisions.
'For students of that age, history can just seem like a story in a book,' said Nobuyo Ueda, a Tokyo Jogakkan teacher in charge of the group. 'I hope that tending to Anne's roses will help the students develop awareness of peace naturally, without being forced to do so.'
Rino Nakamura, a third-year senior high school student who headed the executive committee last year, said she read 'The Diary of a Young Girl' when she was in elementary school.
She said that her activities have led her to believe that it is essential to seek to share happiness with others instead of just seeking happiness for oneself.
Nakamura added she has also come to think of peace as an issue that concerns her personally.
Haruka Minami, another third-year senior high school student, said she has been on the committee since she was in her first year of junior high school. After tending the flowers alongside her friends for six years, this will be her last year at the school to see them bloom.
Minami said she tells herself, as she tends the roses, that keeping the flowers that are symbols of peace will also help keep the desire for peace alive.
She said she has felt relief and joy every time she sees the roses bloom each year.