Mayor: No name change for the "Anne Frank" daycare center
Long-held plans to change the name of the "Anne Frank" daycare center in Tangerhütte in the Altmark region have attracted criticism in light of current political events. Now Tangerhütte's mayor Andreas Brohm (non-party) has made it clear that nothing has been decided yet. The discussions are still ongoing "without a decision currently being made", Brohm explained in writing on Monday. The "Magdeburger Volksstimme" reported on this at the weekend, as have other media in the meantime.
Anne Frank was born to Jewish parents in Frankfurt am Main in 1929. Her family fled from the National Socialists to the Netherlands in 1933. She hid there in a Secret Annex from 1942 to 1944. During this time, Anne Frank wrote a diary that is one of the most widely read works of world literature. Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 15.
Brohm explained that the background to the planned renaming was a process of renewal towards open work that the daycare center had undergone over the past 14 months. "Long before the current discussions and events, the discussion had already arisen at the beginning of 2023 to make this fundamental change in concept visible to the outside world by changing the name of the facility in order to visibly mark this fundamental new beginning."
In an open letter, the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, criticized the planned renaming. He addressed the people of Tangerhütte: "If, dear citizens of Tangerhütte, I had any advice to give, I would advise Anne Frank to fight and not to walk away wordlessly and sadly if she is to be chased away again in her German homeland. Perhaps you will reconsider the whole thing?"
Mayor Brohm made it clear in his statement: "Tangerhütte, with its educational institutions and all its civic engagement, stands for a Germany that is open to the world and at the same time is just as aware of its historical responsibility as it is of its educational mission."
According to the "Magdeburger Volksstimme" newspaper, the daycare center has borne the name "Anne Frank" since the early 1970s. The new name should be "Weltentdecker".
The ongoing discussions about renaming the "Anne Frank" daycare center in Tangerhütte involve not just the municipalities involved, but also local kindergartens, as they share a shared history and an educational mission. Historically, the daycare center has been named after Anne Frank since the 1970s, and some propose a change to "Weltentdecker."
Source: www.dpa.com
