How “A Small Light” Connects Modern Audiences with Anne Frank’s Story in a New and Relatable Way

“When we were visiting Amsterdam six years ago with our kids, one thing we did was the bike ride,” A Small Light series co-creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer Joan Rater revealed during a TCA press conference for National Geographic’s series. For Joan and her husband Tony Phelan, who together developed this series about Miep Geis, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank and her family, visiting the place where Anne Frank lived really helped them connect to the story. “We [rode] from the office to the Frank apartment. It's, like, 45 minutes… We are outside the Frank apartment, and I was tired. I was, like, ‘Okay, we've seen it. It's cool, but I want to get some ice cream." And then, I turned, and across the street from the Franks' apartment is a park, and there were these 10-year-old girls doing cartwheels. And our daughter was with us, who is a ten-year-old girl… I was suddenly thunderstruck. Anne Frank was a 10-year-old girl doing cartwheels. She was a girl riding her bike, gossiping with her friends. And I know that girl. I'm raising her.”

(Disney/ PictureGroup)

Tony Phelan, who also adds directing duties to the credits he shared with his wife Joan, recalled a chilling moment during their visit. “We were outside the Frank apartment in Amsterdam, and I was with a historian who had written an oral history of the neighborhood, and there was an elderly who was walking by with a cart. She had her groceries, and the historian was, like, ‘Oh, come here, you've got to meet her,’ and introduced me. This woman had grown up with Anne. She had lived in the neighborhood her entire life. And I was, like, ‘What can you tell me about Anne?’ She was, like, ‘Anne was a pain in the ass. Anne knew everything.’ And it was clear this was just her friend who she had these memories of. Some of Anne's friends did survive the horrors of the Holocaust and talked about her, and everybody said she was a girl who you remembered. I think that one of the most awful moments in the show is at the end of Episode 5 when Miep brings Anne the shoes and the dress because Anne is growing out of all of her clothes. And Anne takes these steps as a woman, and Miep talks about Anne's future. And it's just horrible because you do get a glimpse of what this woman might have been like. And, I think, when you think about the fact that Barbara Walters just passed away, Barbara Walters was the same age as Anne Frank.”

For executive producer and director Susanna Fogel, humanizing these names and giving audiences a new access point to history was at the top of mind. “Something that is really special about the show just in terms of its place in history, I feel like the further away an event gets and the more it sort of becomes part of the canon, the more the people that are part of that moment in history just become defined by their role in that event. Like, Anne was a victim. Miep was a hero. They are justified by the role they played in the Holocaust because that's how people know who they are, but they are so much more than that. This show tries to just give a humanistic portrayal of the people, defined as more than just what they did in World War II and the role they played vis-a-vis that event because they also play a role as mothers, daughters, wives, people fighting with their friends.”

“Miep wrote her own book called Anne Frank Remembered, so I read that a few times just to get a sense of her voice,” actress Bel Powley revealed about finding her character, Miep Gies, the woman who played a critical role in helping the Frank family hide in The Annex. “There was also quite a long interview that Miep and Jan did later on in their lives. I just wanted to get a sense of who she was and her soul, so that was helpful for me, too.” As a person of Jewish ancestry, Bel Powley was also driven by her family’s connection to this chapter in history. “It's very important to make it fresh and accessible. When I read the pilot for A Small Light, I was blown away by how modern and current and relatable Tony and Joan's take on this story felt. I think that that's incredibly important in the current political climate. I mean, anti-Semitism is on the rise. There are more displaced people in the world now than ever. So it was important to me and for my family history and my own personal connections to, if we're going to make this show, to make one that makes people think, ‘Well, what would I do?’ and makes it feel relatable, rather than just feeling like you're being banged over the head with a bunch of historical facts.”

“I remember when we got to set, and we were working with Susanna, and Susanna was finding the fun and the humor in some of the darker moments,” recalled Joe Cole, who plays Miep’s husband Jan Gies, who also helped her keep the Frank’s whereabouts a sacred. “At first, I was thinking, ‘Wait, can we do this? Are we allowed to do this?’ You know, this is a period drama about the Holocaust, about World War II. And then when you watch the show back, and you see all those moments come together and those sort of nuances in amongst the darker stuff, it just works so beautifully.” Lighthearted moments within the series also reflect the reality of living through dark times. “The way you get through these trying times is by laughing and joking. And you see that in the show. It's also about a young husband and wife falling in love. And it's a romance right at the beginning.”

Representing the on-screen Frank family at TCA was Liev Schreiber, who dons a bald cap to play Otto Frank, the family’s patriarch. Being of Ukrainian heritage, Schreiber co-founded the non-profit BlueCheck to help his ancestral country. “Four of the cofounders of BlueCheck are members of the Anne Frank House, and so I had all of this access to footage and material,” Liev revealed about his research for the role. “I was intrigued by the material from the diaries that he didn't want published and looking at that and trying to understand somebody who really had to aggressively compartmentalize his life because of the situation he was in. That was really interesting to me. The other thing that I was touched by in reading about Otto was he wasn't a very religious person. And he strongly felt his identity was German, and that he wasn't allowed to be anything but Jewish outraged him… He was a very elegant guy, and he was very proud of his nationality. It stuck with me.”

Everything about A Small Light is designed to stick with audiences, which it certainly did with the cast and creative team. “When I read this, it was a very, very fresh take on what a lot of people think is a Jewish story, and it's not really a Jewish story,” Liev Schreiber explained, who is half-Jewish. “It's a human story, and in this case, it's a young, Austrian immigrant girl's story.”

Experience this new, deeply human retelling of a terrifying moment in human history from a different perspective in A Small Light. National Geographic will air two back-to-back episodes on Mondays at 9/8c beginning May 1st, with new episodes streaming the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.