Anne Frank 2014

Previous posts to this blog noted how The Diary of Anne Frank was still controversial and the target of censorship. Many outlets are now reporting that 265 books, both the Diary and other Anne Frank related books, had been vandalized in 31 public libraries across Tokyo.  Despite, or perhaps because of, the moving testimonial and observations the book remains a target for xenophobes and the closed-minded.  

An Update: Anne Frank Censored

In a follow-up to my post on Anne Frank in May, an exhibit at the New York Public Library entitled, “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” has a fascinating examination of three hundred years of the literature of young people. Tucked inside the exhibition is a section on books that have been banned in different parts of the United States for their content and depictions. Among those in this section was the unabridged version of The Diary of Anne Frank. 

Citing objections, the exhibition noted that Bobbi Johnson, Superintendent of the Culpeper County (Virginia) Public Schools argued that the unabridged version did not “reflect the purpose of studying the book at the middle-school level and could foster a discussion in a classroom that many would find inappropriate” (29 January 2010). 

Collège Anne Frank

It is symbolic to name schools after people whose traits and attributes the society admires. Often schools in the United States are named in honor of presidents and governors; thus it is interesting to consider individuals who have been honored by a named school in other countries. On rue Trosseau (in the 11th arrondissement) the Collège Anne Frank sits on an otherwise nondescript street in Paris.

Although her book remains a controversial work in some quarters, for many of us Anne Frank is the epitome of bravery in the face of monstrous evil and mortal danger, as well as an excellent writer whose talents went unfulfilled. Although it has been years since I have read The Diary of Anne Frank, when I occasionally come across a passage of the book I am always amazed by the poise and sophistication of her writing. The book delves into subjects and depths that are rarely considered by many. It is amazing to think that the words and thoughts of this young woman of Amsterdam are so profound. (See the only known footage of Anne Frank here)

A plaque on the front of the school reminds the reader to remember and recall the Jewish students of the school who were deported and ultimately died in concentration camps. In all, the plaque reveals, about 1200 students from the arrondissement died at the hands of the Nazis and with the collaboration of the Vichy regime.