Rapper “Anne Frank” Downplays Holocaust, Shows History Of Antisemitism

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Dutch Rapper "Anne Frank" (Credit: Het Parool)

A Dutch rapper has caused controversy by using the stage name “Anne Frank”, calling attention to her own past antisemitic statements and whitewashing Anne Frank’s tragic death.

According to reports in the Dutch newspaper Het Parool, a 25-year-old woman named Annelies, featured on the upcoming album of rapper Lange Frans, had decided to use the stage name Anne Frank. As was immediately brought up by the Anne Frank Foundation, actions diminishing the Holocaust and its effects are detrimental to the remembrance and education surrounding it, which was only heightened once her previous antisemitism came to light.

Shooting down immediate complaints around antisemitism, she said “people think immediately that its ill-intentioned, but it isn’t. The real reason I chose the name is because I’ve always been called that, since elementary school. She’s inspiring, an example of how you can live in an unbearable situation.”

Yet almost immediately, the watchdog Centrum for Information and Documentation on Israel published a compilation of tweets showcasing some of her previous comments about Jews and the Holocaust. Tweets consisted of “if Taylor Swift was a Jew I would personally gas her” to “the NS [Dutch Railways, which recently settled reparations for Holocaust survivors] has been giving me the idea for two days already that they’re deporting Jews to Auschwitz, this train is so full”, and “we all cry when Jews are gassed, but 100,000 chickens are murdered every day”.

A day after the initial fiasco, she publicized an apology video, and declared she would instead just go by Anne. “I realized I legitimately hurt some people, and for that I am extremely sorry… The tweets from years ago were stupid and not thought through and written by the person that I sadly was back then, but thankfully I am not that person anymore and never will be again.”

Even with the apology, many are still asking Lange Frans to distance himself and remove her from his brand. As the Anne Frank Foundation said, “it showcased little in terms of empathy for the feelings of all the survivors of the Holocaust and their families.”

The downplaying of what happened in the Holocaust, in any way, cannot be accepted. Lange Frans should immediately distance himself from the artist and make clear that this was unacceptable.