Striving to combat anti-Semitism - "Anne Frank's Diary" is destroyed: Association organizes a reading session.
Following a disturbing incident in Aken, where a copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank" was damaged and partially burned, a local organization is hosting a public reading event on Sunday. The news of this disturbing act deeply unsettled the "Wir mit Dir e.V." group, and they made an announcement about it on Friday. There has been a string of hate crimes in the city in recent months, with swastika graffiti being prominent among them. The organization wants to take a stand against anti-Semitism in the community.
Sunday's gathering, from 10:00 a.m. at Marienkirche, is titled "For democratic coexistence in Aken." The event is being organized closely with the city administration and other partners, and the mayor is expected to attend, along with a Dessau-Roßlau city archive employee who will discuss Shoa victims from Aken. Politicians, members of civil society, businesses, and cultural figures are invited to participate in a planned reading from "The Diary of Anne Frank."
Two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old were witnessed at a bus stop on Wednesday when the damage occurred, according to the police. By the time officers arrived at the scene, the fire had been extinguished. The suspects face charges of incitement to hatred.
Anne Frank, who kept a diary while in hiding with her family from Nazis during World War II, was only 15 when she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, shortly before the end of the war. Her powerful and poignant diary was published posthumously, keeping her memory and her story alive.
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The event aims to promote democratic coexistence and combat anti-Semitism in Aken, inspired by the tragic destruction of a copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank." The incident occurred at a bus stop on Wednesday, involving three adolescents who face charges of incitement to hatred. Municipalities across Saxony-Anhalt, including Aken, have been grappling with a rise in hate crimes, with swastikas being a common sight. The public reading session, scheduled for Sunday, will be an opportunity for politicians, civilians, and cultural figures to pay tribute to Anne Frank, whose powerful diary serves as a testament to history's dark past of extremism and hate.
