A daycare center in Germany plans to separate from its namesake, Anne Frank, after about fifty years. However, when these plans became public, there was a flood of criticism: now the mayor of the city in question rowed back.
Plans to change the name of the daycare center ‘Anne Frank’ in the Tangerhütte in the state of Saxony-Anhalt have been around for some time, but Mayor Andreas Brohm made it clear on Monday that nothing had been decided yet. Talks are still ongoing, “with no decision being made at this time,” Brohm said in writing.
Name change should ‘make visible a fundamentally new beginning’
Brohm explained that the background to the planned name change was a process of renewal towards open work that the daycare center had undergone over the past fourteen months. “Well before the current discussions and events, the discussion arose in early 2023 to make this fundamental change in concept visible to the outside world by renaming the facility and thus visibly marking this fundamental new beginning.”
Reprimand from the Auschwitz Committee
In an open letter, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, criticized the planned name change. He addressed the residents of Tangerhütte: “If I had any advice, dear citizens of Tangerhütte, I would advise Anne Frank to fight and not to run away wordless and sad if she were chased away again in her German homeland. Maybe you’ll reconsider the whole thing?
Mayor Brohm made it clear in his statement: “Tangerhütte, with its educational institutions and all its social commitment, stands for a cosmopolitan Germany that is aware of both its historical responsibility and its educational mission.”
According to the Magdeburger Volksstimme, the daycare center has been called ‘Anne Frank’ since the early 1970s. The new name should be “World Explorer”.
Frank died in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1929 to Jewish parents. Her family fled from the National Socialists to the Netherlands in 1933. She hid in a secret annex there from 1942 to 1944. During this time, Anne Frank wrote a diary that is one of the most read works in world literature. Anne Frank died in 1945 at the age of 15 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
