Albuquerque composer Jane Ellen will speak about the use of music as a propaganda tool in Nazi Germany Wednesday at the Albuquerque Convention Center at 7 p.m. Ellen is part of the "Anne Frank Speakers Series" hosted by the "Anne Frank In the World: 1929-1945" exhibit at Cottonwood Mall.

Ellen's presentation, "Sounds of Turmoil: Music in Anne's World," explores Hitler's Ministry of Propaganda's plan to create what the Nazis believed to be a superior race and culture. Ellen will discuss the Nazi ban on music of non-Aryan origins and its replacement by nationalistic music that reflected Nazi ideals.

"The use of music as propaganda was an attempt to control the arts, to attempt to control the people," Ellen said. "Very sadly, music and the arts are a wonderful tool which can be used for any subversive purpose."

Regina Turner, director of the Cottonwood Mall exhibit, said the speakers series and the exhibit are intended to create a dialogue to explore all areas of discrimination, which are still a part of daily life.

"This is an incredible opportunity for the community to hear these speakers; there's so much we can learn from them," Turner said.

Upcoming speakers include Alfons Heck, who was a member of the Hitler Youth Corps at age 10 and a district leader of the corps at 17. Heck will speak about the "fatal attraction of Hitler" and the dangers of Nazi ideology March 22 at the Albuquerque Little Theater. Michael Berenbaum will talk about Neo-Nazis and other groups with goals of spreading anti-Semitism and how they deny the Holocaust. Ian Hancock will speak about the genocide of the Gypsies during the Holocaust.

Previous speakers in the series have included Holocaust survivors Renee Firestone, who was sent to the Auschwitz concetration camp at 17, and Samuel Oliner who hid from Nazi officials during the Holocaust in the home of a Christian Polish woman. Watch Tower Society researcher Jolene Chu spoke on the spiritual resistance by Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany during the war.

The "Anne Frank in the World" exhibit is an internationally acclaimed, educational forum created by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The exhibit has had more than 30,000 visitors since it opened on Jan. 17, and more than 100,000 are expected before it ends on June 15.