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GORHAM — Yanamarie DiVico, 13, stood confidently in front of a group of sixth graders seated in her middle school’s auditorium.

“Does anyone know what a dictator is?” she asked the group. The students weren’t sure. They leaned in closer to listen.

She and her fellow docent, Nora Emlet, were leading their younger classmates through an exhibit about Anne Frank and the history that framed the young Jewish diarist’s life.

They are among 20 eighth graders at Gorham Middle School who trained last week to become guides for “Anne Frank: A History for Today,” a museum exhibit now on view in the school’s auditorium. By the end of two full days with staff from the Anne Frank Center, they could recount Frank’s childhood, her years hiding from the Nazis in the “Secret Annex” in Amsterdam, the Holocaust and her death in a concentration camp.

“It’s definitely very heavy,” DiVico said.

All of the school’s 684 students will tour the exhibit. For many, it will be their first time learning about Hitler and the Nazi genocide of Jewish people and other groups from 1933 to 1945. It comes as antisemitism surges and as scholars push for more Holocaust education in the U.S.

Heather Whitaker, the Gorham Middle School alternative education teacher who organized the program, said learning about the past through Frank — a teenager who shared her observations and experiences of everyday life while in hiding — allows the students to connect with the history.

“The kids really become the leaders and take ownership in creating a more just world,” Whitaker said.

DiVico and Emlet shared stories in their presentation like expert historians. They encouraged their audience to come closer to the panels and ask questions.

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam produced the exhibit panels. Staff there create them to send to schools around the world, allowing students to spread Frank’s story.

This set first made its way to Maine for a stay at Stearns Junior-Senior High School in Millinocket, and will go to Middle School of the Kennebunks next, Whitaker said.

The exhibit will be open to the public for tours and viewings on Friday, Oct. 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 2:45 to 4 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

“Everyone needs to know about (the Holocaust) so that it doesn’t happen again,” said student docent Jacob Philbrick.