The Anne Frank Connection in Danville, Iowa

Name: The Anne Frank Connection in Danville, Iowa
Start: 2026-05-21T11:30:00-05:00
End: 2026-05-21T13:00:00-05:00
Location: The Iowa State Bar Association

Schedule

Thu May 21 2026 at 11:30 am to 01:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

The Iowa State Bar Association | Des Moines, IA

Iowans Supporting Israel
Lunch and Learn Series
The Anne Frank Connection in Danville, Iowa
with
Janet Hesler, Curator
Danville Museum
In 1939, a Danville teacher, Miss Birdie Mathews, initiated a pen pal exchange for her class. Ten year old Juanita Wagner picked a name from a list of pen pals. She chose a girl her own age who lived in Amsterdam. The girl’s name was Anne Frank. Danville, Iowa is one of two places in the world to view the pen pal letters which are on display at the Danville Museum.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
11:30 AM doors open
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM program
Iowa State Bar Association
625 E. Court Ave, Des Moines, IA 50309
RSVP required.
Kosher lunch available upon request.
To RSVP email [email protected]
Zoom view available by email request at least one day prior to event.
Janet Hesler is the curator of the Anne Frank Connection at the Danville Station, in Danville, Iowa. Their project began in 2007 by purchasing the copyright of the Anne Frank letters sent to two Danville girls.
In 2015 they purchased a larger facility, a lumber yard that her father and uncle purchased after returning from WWII. Their Danville Station Committee raised enough funds to completely gut it and remodel. The building is the home to their community library, the Anne Frank Penpal museum and a community activity room.
In 2023 the Danville Station Committee located and purchased an authentic pre-WWII German railcar that sits behind their museum. It contains three wall exhibits of the deportations to the death camps as well as rescuer stories.
Iowans Supporting Israel is a non-profit bipartisan organization encouraging Iowans to support and to seek a closer relationship with the State of Israel.