A German kindergarten has said it will drop Anne Frank from its name in favour of a “more diverse” alternative, adding fuel to the national debate over anti-Semitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The kindergarten in the village of Tangerhütte, in eastern Germany, said it was rebranding itself “world explorer kindergarten” in order to be more inclusive.
The name change ends half a century of association with the Jewish 15-year-old who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.
“We wanted a name without a political background,” Linda Schichor, the kindergarten’s director, told a local newspaper.
Ms Schichor said that the story of Anne Frank was difficult to explain to small children, while immigrant families had “often never heard of her” or her diary about her family’s attempt to remain hidden from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam.
A representative of the local council backed the move, saying that the name change was part of a “conceptual overhaul” that would see that kindergarten put more emphasis on the “self determination and diversity” of the children in its care.
But, coming at a time when Germany is engaged in soul searching over whether the lessons of the Nazi era are being forgotten, the name change has caused a national scandal.
Christoph Heubner, the deputy head of the International Auschwitz Committee, appealed for the name change decision to be reversed in a letter sent to the local council.
“If one is prepared to forget one’s own history so easily, especially in these times of renewed anti-Semitism and Right-wing extremism, one can only feel fear and anxiety about the culture of remembrance in our country,” he said.
Germany’s leading conservative newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, dedicated its opinion pages on Monday to asking the “disturbing question” of whether the story of Anne Frank “should no longer bother us”.
Jewish organisations have raised concerns in recent months about growing anti-Semitism from both the far-Right and immigrant communities from the Middle East.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews has warned that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is polling at over 20 per cent, “embodies Nazi ideals”.
Senior figures in the AfD have played down the crimes of the Nazi era, with one leader calling it “a bird sh-t” on German history, while others have questioned why there is a memorial to the Holocaust in the centre of Berlin.
The name change debate comes against the backdrop of a surge in anti-Semitic crime in some of Germany’s largest cities in the wake of Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel.
Stars of David have been daubed on Jewish homes, a molotov cocktail has been thrown at a synagogue in Berlin and Jews have reportedly been mocked on the streets after the terror group’s deadly cross-border raid, which provoked Israel to launch a major offensive in Gaza.
Terrible decision
Step 1: Kill Jews
Step 2: Rename things that are named after Jews since there aren’t enough of us anymore for it to “make sense” to have a kindergarten named after a Jew.
​
It remains to be seen whether they’ll burn her diary while they’re at it.
Welcome to the future of Europe.
Anne Frank was “too political”
Unbelievable.
If anyone needs evidence piece #60,000 of how the DEI people are both cruel and insane, here we have it
“Immigrant families had often never heard of her”
Imagine erasing your own history to cater to anti-semitic immigrants from the third world.
It is also funny how this article goes on to blame German right-wing extremism for this, when the rise in Anti-Semitism in Germany was created by hateful foreign communities that were invited here by the left.
I feel like Germans start to get tired of this. Doesn’t matter what you do you will get attacked for it. Why bother
Absolutely disgusting, the fact that they are calling erasing the name of a jewish holocaust victim “diversity” without a hint of irony is incomprehensible. We are living in an absurdist dark comedy.
I am very much ***not*** one of those people who goes in for the blanket hate against Muslims and immigration, multiculturalism, etc. There absolutely *are* issues with Islam and uncontrolled immigration that we need to address and talk about openly without being hateful and reactionary or being labelled bigoted or ‘phobic, but I refuse to kneejerk despise a whole demographic because of fundamentalism. That’s right out of the fundie playbook.
That said, I wholeheartedly disapprove of altering or erasing ones own national character, culture and history to cater to inclusivity. You can’t sanitise *everything* just in case it might alienate or offend someone. It’s very much up to the outsider to fit in – ‘When In Rome.’
If immigrants haven’t heard of Anne Frank, educate them. Don’t delete her name in the name of being inclusive. It sets a very bad precedent: or shall we sanitise museums next, because [insert demographic] might feel excluded or uncomfortable with the exhibits?
I read Anne Frank’s diary in elementary school as a little girl in the United States. Twenty years later, I still tear up thinking about her story. I loved that book.
Are they perhaps concerned about the “rising of islamophobia” and the offense the name of the kindergarten might bring to those who’s feelings have been hurt. Craven to say the least.
renamed to the muhammad ali allah akbar kindergarten
This is absolutely insane.
I’m jewish and this is one of my comfort subreddits because you lot seem to be one of the few that understand what we’re going through right now.
But to play devils advocate, I can understand the idea that its “too political” for a kindergarden. I can see the conversation going like this
Child: “whos is anne frank why is our school named after her?”
Teacher: “She was a teenage girl hiding in an attic while hiding from nazis”
Child: “Whats a nazi?”
And so the teacher is stuck in a position where she needs to explain to a 5 year old that Anne Frank was a girl trying to escape the horrors of the holocaust from the genocidal nazi ideology that wanted to murder every single jew or need to change the subject. A lot to drop on a 5 year old like that.
At least if that was the only argument I’d get it, but the “more diverse” part worries me.
Fucking idiots. Now, more than ever since WW2 it’s important to preserve the Jewish heritage. Anti-semitic attacks are one the rise, and they’re rising fast.
What will they rename it too? Hamas Kindergarten?
Al-Qaeda Kindergarten?
We’re fucked.
It’s 2023 and the Holocaust is “political.”
We live in the shittiest 80s dystopian sci-fi.
gotta make room for your new your new muslim overlords. good job!
Maybe the Holocaust memorial should be renamed as a Minecraft Park then. Why bother with the original purpose now when it seems to be more inportant than ever.
18 comments
A German kindergarten has said it will drop Anne Frank from its name in favour of a “more diverse” alternative, adding fuel to the national debate over anti-Semitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.
The kindergarten in the village of Tangerhütte, in eastern Germany, said it was rebranding itself “world explorer kindergarten” in order to be more inclusive.
The name change ends half a century of association with the Jewish 15-year-old who died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.
“We wanted a name without a political background,” Linda Schichor, the kindergarten’s director, told a local newspaper.
Ms Schichor said that the story of Anne Frank was difficult to explain to small children, while immigrant families had “often never heard of her” or her diary about her family’s attempt to remain hidden from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam.
A representative of the local council backed the move, saying that the name change was part of a “conceptual overhaul” that would see that kindergarten put more emphasis on the “self determination and diversity” of the children in its care.
But, coming at a time when Germany is engaged in soul searching over whether the lessons of the Nazi era are being forgotten, the name change has caused a national scandal.
Christoph Heubner, the deputy head of the International Auschwitz Committee, appealed for the name change decision to be reversed in a letter sent to the local council.
“If one is prepared to forget one’s own history so easily, especially in these times of renewed anti-Semitism and Right-wing extremism, one can only feel fear and anxiety about the culture of remembrance in our country,” he said.
Germany’s leading conservative newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, dedicated its opinion pages on Monday to asking the “disturbing question” of whether the story of Anne Frank “should no longer bother us”.
Jewish organisations have raised concerns in recent months about growing anti-Semitism from both the far-Right and immigrant communities from the Middle East.
Germany’s Central Council of Jews has warned that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is polling at over 20 per cent, “embodies Nazi ideals”.
Senior figures in the AfD have played down the crimes of the Nazi era, with one leader calling it “a bird sh-t” on German history, while others have questioned why there is a memorial to the Holocaust in the centre of Berlin.
The name change debate comes against the backdrop of a surge in anti-Semitic crime in some of Germany’s largest cities in the wake of Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel.
Stars of David have been daubed on Jewish homes, a molotov cocktail has been thrown at a synagogue in Berlin and Jews have reportedly been mocked on the streets after the terror group’s deadly cross-border raid, which provoked Israel to launch a major offensive in Gaza.
Terrible decision
Step 1: Kill Jews
Step 2: Rename things that are named after Jews since there aren’t enough of us anymore for it to “make sense” to have a kindergarten named after a Jew.
​
It remains to be seen whether they’ll burn her diary while they’re at it.
Welcome to the future of Europe.
Anne Frank was “too political”
Unbelievable.
If anyone needs evidence piece #60,000 of how the DEI people are both cruel and insane, here we have it
“Immigrant families had often never heard of her”
Imagine erasing your own history to cater to anti-semitic immigrants from the third world.
It is also funny how this article goes on to blame German right-wing extremism for this, when the rise in Anti-Semitism in Germany was created by hateful foreign communities that were invited here by the left.
I feel like Germans start to get tired of this. Doesn’t matter what you do you will get attacked for it. Why bother
Absolutely disgusting, the fact that they are calling erasing the name of a jewish holocaust victim “diversity” without a hint of irony is incomprehensible. We are living in an absurdist dark comedy.
I am very much ***not*** one of those people who goes in for the blanket hate against Muslims and immigration, multiculturalism, etc. There absolutely *are* issues with Islam and uncontrolled immigration that we need to address and talk about openly without being hateful and reactionary or being labelled bigoted or ‘phobic, but I refuse to kneejerk despise a whole demographic because of fundamentalism. That’s right out of the fundie playbook.
That said, I wholeheartedly disapprove of altering or erasing ones own national character, culture and history to cater to inclusivity. You can’t sanitise *everything* just in case it might alienate or offend someone. It’s very much up to the outsider to fit in – ‘When In Rome.’
If immigrants haven’t heard of Anne Frank, educate them. Don’t delete her name in the name of being inclusive. It sets a very bad precedent: or shall we sanitise museums next, because [insert demographic] might feel excluded or uncomfortable with the exhibits?
I read Anne Frank’s diary in elementary school as a little girl in the United States. Twenty years later, I still tear up thinking about her story. I loved that book.
Are they perhaps concerned about the “rising of islamophobia” and the offense the name of the kindergarten might bring to those who’s feelings have been hurt. Craven to say the least.
renamed to the muhammad ali allah akbar kindergarten
This is absolutely insane.
I’m jewish and this is one of my comfort subreddits because you lot seem to be one of the few that understand what we’re going through right now.
But to play devils advocate, I can understand the idea that its “too political” for a kindergarden. I can see the conversation going like this
Child: “whos is anne frank why is our school named after her?”
Teacher: “She was a teenage girl hiding in an attic while hiding from nazis”
Child: “Whats a nazi?”
And so the teacher is stuck in a position where she needs to explain to a 5 year old that Anne Frank was a girl trying to escape the horrors of the holocaust from the genocidal nazi ideology that wanted to murder every single jew or need to change the subject. A lot to drop on a 5 year old like that.
At least if that was the only argument I’d get it, but the “more diverse” part worries me.
Fucking idiots. Now, more than ever since WW2 it’s important to preserve the Jewish heritage. Anti-semitic attacks are one the rise, and they’re rising fast.
What will they rename it too? Hamas Kindergarten?
Al-Qaeda Kindergarten?
We’re fucked.
It’s 2023 and the Holocaust is “political.”
We live in the shittiest 80s dystopian sci-fi.
gotta make room for your new your new muslim overlords. good job!
Maybe the Holocaust memorial should be renamed as a Minecraft Park then. Why bother with the original purpose now when it seems to be more inportant than ever.