Construction set to begin on new human rights education center in Boise

The Wassmuth Center for Human Rights was created in 1996 for the purpose of building the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, but the center’s most recent project includes the construction of a new, two-story human rights education center. 

Located next to the Anne Frank Memorial, the new building will include a visitor center for the memorial, VR tours of the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam and public restrooms on the first floor. The second floor will be a dedicated human rights classroom with a conference room and research library.  

“This will be a one-of-a-kind human rights education center within the footprint of a one-of-a-kind human rights memorial,” said Dan Prinzing, executive director of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. “We’re an education center so you may not see us leading the march. Our goal is to empower others to get in … We protect and promote human rights for all and showcase how each of us [can be] an upstander to confront injustice.”

Being an “upstander” is one of the primary messages that the Wassmuth Center hopes to spread. An “upstander” is someone who is not a bystander, but rather acts when witnessing injustice in the world. 

“Those who have been through the (Wassmuth) educational program will understand the language of being an upstander and that is adopting an approach where you as an individual step in to confront hate-based ideologies,” said Isaac Castellano, an assistant clinical professor for the Political Science program at Boise State. “It’s not about being a Democrat or Republican. It’s about standing up for the individual natural rights that each person is bestowed with upon birth.”

Construction for the new education center is set to begin by mid-October and is expected to be complete and open to the public by August 2023, according to Prinzing. 

The education center is named the Philip E. Batt Building after Philip Batt, who served as governor of Idaho from 1995 to 1999. Early in his political career, Batt sponsored legislation that helped establish the Idaho Human Rights Commission, and while serving as governor, he successfully enacted workers’ compensation for agricultural workers in Idaho. 

“Gov. Batt very much stood up for human rights in Idaho, even advocating for ‘Add the Words’ and recognizing that there should be no discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Prinzing said. “The Batt family did not donate to have this happen. It’s our way of paying tribute to those who have inspired action.”

The Anne Frank Memorial in downtown Boise opened to the public in 2002 and is the only memorial of its kind in the United States. Prinzing explained that the idea for a permanent memorial came after a traveling Anne Frank exhibit stopped in Boise and over 50,000 people came to see it. 

“Something in the story of Anne Frank really resonated (with the community),” Prinzing said. “It was her hope for humanity and her articulation of what was happening to them just because they were a targeted group.”

While the Anne Frank Memorial has become a well-known tourist attraction in Idaho, with over 120,000 visitors each year, the site often struggles with vandalism and hate speech. In 2020, the Memorial was defaced with Nazi stickers, and more recently in late 2021, similar anti-semitic graffiti was placed all over the memorial’s surrounding area.

There is still a prominent white-supremacist presence within Idaho, with over 60% of all hate crimes in the state being motivated by race or ethnicity, according to data from the Department of Justice. Combatting this type of violence and ignorance through “awareness” and “empathy” is one of the primary objectives of the education center. 

“The presence of individuals who have adopted hate-based ideologies is not some distant place. It’s here and it’s here in Idaho,” Castellano said. “There is a groundswell of radicalization occurring in this country that facilitates hate based ideologies that justify and even call for political violence.”

Prinzing made it very clear that while the construction of a new human rights building is bound to draw some unwanted attention, it will not deter them from fulfilling their mission due to significant public support. The Philip E. Batt building was only made possible through public donations, from both corporations and individuals.

The Wassmuth Center raised $4.7 million of their $5.5 million goal, which included donations from Scentsy, the Blue Cross of Idaho, Micron and many more. 

“[It’s] worth recognizing the uniqueness of both the human rights memorial and this human rights education center, which will really become a beacon of light in the community,” Prinzing said. “The center is making the statement in Idaho’s capital city that there is value and support for human rights education.”