The Importance Of Ethnocentrism In The Diary Of Anne Frank

Introduction To make our society work, we all must learn how to respect, care and appreciate each other in our country and our nation. In order to complete this task, we all must study similar situations from the past to become fully aware of the horrendous endeavors throughout the world. Within The Diary of Anne Frank film, I grasp how diverse all individuals were, how their human rights were violated, and how ethnocentrism was conveyed.

The Acceptance of Diversity

Diversity is the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization (www.merriam-webster.com). In the beginning of the film, there was only Anne’s family. Anne belonged to a Jewish nuclear family that consisted of her mother,

Ethnocentrism is having or based on the idea that your own group or culture is better or more important than others (www.merriam-webster.com). According to Thomas Forr’s article, “Ethnocentrism can lead to excessive nationalism. This nationalism can be used to justify persecution of minorities, prejudice and racism. In Nazi Germany for instance, Adolf Hitler, sought to create a master race, which would be far superior to all other races. This belief of superiority of “Aryans” help justify the repression and murder of millions of people. As you can understand ethnocentrism is not just good, but bad too, you can use the Ying and Yang symbol for Buddhism to explain it; it has good in the bad and some bad in the good. You have to remember that if we did not have any ethnocentrism we would not look at other cultures as interesting” (Ethnocentrism and values). I agree and disagree with this statement. I agree that ethnocentrism is needed, but killing other races for one race to seek superior status can never be the right way to express it. I disagree with this statement due to Hitler’s horrendous need to kill all Jews to gain attention towards his single race. For example, Anne’s family, and all others risked their lives every day in the annex because they were Jews. Was this right? No. But according to

This little girl was intelligent, outspoken and had a positive outlook on life. If it was not for Anne, this world would not know how courageous, determine, and strong-willed her family and the others in the annex were about expressing that there will never be a superior race. From this film I truly learned that ethnocentrism is something that will never come to pass, and it will always exist within several individuals of the world. I will never feel the need to express that my religion or race is superior the way that Hitler did, but instead educate it to anyone that is willing to