Misuse of Anne Frank’s name

Regarding “Wiesenthal Center urges removal of Anne Frank’s Name from NGO due to antisemitism” (April 4), this is not the first time that Anne Frank’s name has been misused. In this case, the Frankfurt Anne Frank Educational Center was condemned for inviting an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish speaker in its venue. A few months ago, the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam refused to allow a Jewish worker to wear a kippah there.

I think that this is a result of a universalization of the Anne Frank story to a point where her Jewishness and reason for her death in a Nazi camp, have been placed in a secondary role and in some cases nearly obliterated.

Her entry in her diary in April 1944, a few months before her hiding place was discovered, belies this. She wrote, “If there are still Jews left when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. Who knows, it might even be our religion from whom the whole world learns good. We will never become Netherlanders or representatives of any other country for that matter. We will always remain Jews, but we want to, too.”

Giving a proper name to who Anne Frank was and remembering the circumstances surrounding her diary will help to keep her memory in a proper perspective. MARION REISS

Beit Shemesh