Region Sailors, retirees and civilians gathered at the Jack Murdock Auditorium at the Naval Undersea Museum, Keyport for Living Voices’ “Through the Eyes of a Friend” performance, April 18.

The event was sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Diversity Council in celebration of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Living Voices is a Seattle-based acting company that focuses on bringing history to life.

The story was told from the viewpoint of a fictional character “Sarah,” who is the best friend of Anne Frank. Sarah’s story is based on testimonials and experiences of people who knew Anne Frank.

“I feel really honored and I’m very impressed the military put forth the energy and the resources to do this,” said Susanna Burney, the actress who portrays Sarah in the Living Voices production. “The one thing I hope people take from this is although this nightmare we call the Holocaust happened 60 years ago, genocide still exists today.”

The story chronicles the life of Sarah, the daughter of an average German family forced to move to Holland when the Nazis come to power. In Holland, Sarah becomes friends with Anne Frank, who maintain their friendship through their teenage years as the Nazis invade their country.

“It is amazing to see, in a very real way, some of the sacrifices my father and other fathers made and to realize how this can occur” said Gene Cochran, Work Life Diversity Council member. “If you try to look at the Holocaust as a whole, it’s overwhelming. To be able to see a presentation like this done by Living Voices it makes it a little bit easier to understand.”

“Through the Eyes of a Friend” follows Sarah as she hides for two years in the basement of a clock store until she is discovered and sent to the prison camp, Westerbork.  At Westerbork, Sarah is reunited with Anne. After a few weeks, Sarah and the Franks are put on a train to Auschwitz.

“I think it’s important Sailors remember the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to prevent future genocide and try and stop it,” said Yeoman 1st Class Jason Revitzer, Submarine Group 9. “We can’t let genocide happen again, so its everybody’s responsibility to learn about it.”

In Auschwitz, Sarah and Anne are tattooed with numbers, shaved, and forced to stand in the cold for long roll calls before beginning their day of forced labor. The men are separated from their families and Anne becomes ill. After a few months Anne, her sister Margot, and Sarah are shipped to another camp called Bergen-Belsen.

It is in Bergen-Belsen that both Anne’s and Margot’s health grows worse. Margot becomes so weakened that she dies from a fall. Days later, Anne dies from Typhoid.

“I thought the presentation was great, said Revitzer. “The pictures and video in the background had a lot of graphic details and let everyone feel the impact of the Holocaust and what Anne Frank went through.”