(SNews) – A German kindergarten has announced that it will be dropping Anne Frank from its name after over 50 years to promote “diversity.”
The kindergarten in the town of Tangerhütte has been called the “Kindertagesstätte ‘Anne Frank’” since the 1970s.
It was named after the Jewish German girl who provided future generations with a firsthand insight into life in hiding under Nazi occupation.
Frank was ultimately captured during the Holocaust, taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, and murdered along with her sister.
However, parents and school officials no longer feel the Jewish Holocaust victim’s name is “diverse” or “inclusive” enough for their institution.
Instead, they want to rename the school as “World Explorers.”
They said the new name will both evoke a sense of international “diversity” and accommodate immigrants’ preferences.
The director of the kindergarten, Linda Schichor, told the local newspaper Volksstimme, “We wanted a name without a political background.”
Schichor indicated that Anne Frank’s story was difficult to explain to children.
She also said that the story of a Jew who was murdered didn’t “resonate” with immigrant families who had “often never heard of her.”
One local suggested to the German newspaper Bild that this explanation failed to pass muster.
“Here in Tangerhütte we mainly have Ukrainians and Russians – hardly any Arab roommates,” the local noted.
Officials have nevertheless stressed that such a name change would move the needle on emphasizing the “self-determination and diversity” of the children at the center, reported the Telegraph.
Mayor Andreas Brohm, an initial supporter of the change, said:
“It is important to the institution to make this conceptual change visible to the outside world.
“If parents and employees want a name that better reflects the new concept, that has more weight compared to the global political situation.”
Christoph Hebuner, the deputy head of the International Auschwitz Committee, has implored the local council to reverse the decision.
Hebuner blasted the apparent eagerness “to forget one’s own history so easily, especially in these times of renewed anti-Semitism.”
The country has recently seen a significant spike in anti-Semitic violence.
Anti-Semitism has spiked among far-left and Muslim groups amid the massive anti-Israel protests that have popped up across Germany following the savage October 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel.
There have been reports of radicals once again marking the residences of Jewish citizens as part of a broader intimidation campaign.
Max Privorozki, chairman of the State Association of Jewish Communities in Saxony-Anhalt, told Bild:
“I am not sure that now is the right moment to change the name of the daycare center, which has existed for more than 50 years.”
“The reference to the parents with a migrant background, who often cannot do anything with the name of Anne Frank, is the best argument against the name change,” added Privorozki.
“This argument means that the integration of these parents into German society is failing.”
In the face of mounting outrage, the town noted in a Monday statement:
“These discussions are still ongoing without a decision being made at the moment.”
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