TOKYO (Japan News/ANN) -- About 200 rose plants of a variety named in honor of a young diarist who died in the holocaust have bloomed at Takaido Junior High School in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.
The rose variety, called "Rose of Anne Frank" at the school, is named after a girl who perished in a concentration camp due to Nazi Germany's persecution of the Jewish people. Some rose plants of this variety were presented to the school by Anne's father several decades ago, and the school has nurtured them with great care for half a century since then.
A Belgian horticulturist developed this rose variety in memory of Anne Frank and presented it to her father, Otto Frank. Its buds are red in color, and as they bloom, the flowers change from orange to pink, a unique characteristic of this variety.
About 50 years ago, second-year students at the school read Anne Frank's "The Diary of A Young Girl" in a Japanese-language class and wrote compositions in the form of letters to Anne. The school compiled them into a collection which they sent to Otto Frank through a Japanese woman who knew him.
From this, a correspondence began between the students and Otto Frank. During their exchanges, the students conveyed a desire to plant some roses at the school as a symbol of peace. So Frank sent 10 rose plants to Japan, three of which were planted at the school.
In 2004, students' parents and local residents launched a group to take care of the roses as a community. Currently, about 40 people are still caring for the flowers in cooperation with students as members of the group "Rose of Anne Frank Supporters."
The school also donated plants from its roses to more than 100 schools and other places around the country.
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