Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
NPR News

Antisemitic text was projected onto the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Antisemitic text implying that Anne Frank's diary was a forgery was projected onto the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam this week, the museum announced in a statement.

"The Anne Frank House organisation has learned of this with shock and revulsion," the museum said.

The projection on the house where the Frank family hid during World War II read, "Ann Frank [sic], inventor of the ballpoint pen."

It alludes to a debunked far-right conspiracy theory that the diary was a forgery because part of it was written in ballpoint pen, which were not yet in use while Anne lived. The theory was meticulously and scientifically disproven by the Dutch government, The New York Times reported in 1989.

This false claim is used to question or deny the Holocaust.

Footage of the projection appeared in a hate video in a private Telegram group from the U.S., the museum's statement says.

Dutch police said they are investigating the incident, according to the Associated Press. The museum says it is in touch with authorities and the Amsterdam City Council.

Sponsored message

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the projection "reprehensible" and said there's "no place for antisemitism in our country" on Twitter.

Anne was a Jewish girl who kept a diary while in hiding with her family for about two years during World War II. The journal chronicled her life, feelings and thoughts.

She died in a concentration camp in 1945.

Her father, Otto, survived the Holocaust and published her diary, which has since sold more than 30 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages.

"The diary of Anne Frank is one of the most important testimonies of the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War," the museum's statement says.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right