Holocaust denial theory projected on Anne Frank House

A conspiracy theory was projected onto the Anne Frank House on Thursday, and video of it is being shared on the extreme-right-wing Telegram channel ‘The Laser Nazi Bunker.’ The projection referred to a conspiracy theory that Anne Frank didn’t write her diary herself, according to Het Parool.

The projection read, “Anne Frank is the inventor of the ballpoint pen,” in Dutch, referring to loose sheets of paper found in the diary. The loose sheets included text written with a ballpoint pen, which had not become popular until after World War II. Frank's father, Otto, and the foundation that managed the family's legacy after he died, long maintained that a researcher left the loose sheets of paper in the diary while studying the text. Other researchers have also concluded that the sheets were most likely accidentally left in the diary and did not detract from its authenticity.

However, right-wing extremists call the explanation a lie, and have rejected the findings of forensic investigators over the years who have repeatedly found that Anne Frank wrote the diary herself with only a fountain pen or a red pencil. Extremists and Holocaust deniers consider the ballpoint pen theory to be proof that the diary is a fake, or a forgery that Otto Frank himself produced.

“There are books, pamphlets, and websites claiming that the diary is a forgery, that it is written by people other than Anne Frank herself, and that it was partly written with a ballpoint pen. These are lies,” the Anne Frank House museum and foundation says on its website. “People who have claimed, or still claim, that the diary is not genuine have a political agenda. They often also say or write that the Holocaust never happened.”

The organization added that these people often claim six million Jews were not killed during the Holocaust or that there were no gas chambers located at Auschwitz and that this is an exaggeration.

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema called the incident “pure anti-Semitism” and “an attack on Anne Frank’s legacy,” speaking to ANP. “I am shocked and furious about this cowardly act,” she said. “Deeply cowardly and painful, for the survivors, the living relatives of the victims of the Holocaust, the entire Jewish community, and everyone who knows where hatred, racism, and intolerance lead.”

Halsema said she is in close contact with the Anne Frank House, representatives of the Jewish community, and the police. “I hope that the perpetrators will be tracked down quickly. The memory of Anne Frank must not be tarnished by the shocking malice of extremists.”

The police are aware of the projection and are investigating, a spokesperson told ANP.

On New Year’s Eve, far-right extremists projected racist texts onto the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam. The texts included racism like “White Lives Matter” and “Vrolijk Blank 2023,” a reference to an anti-Semitic site, and “fourteen words” - a reference to a motto in neo-Nazi circles: “We must ensure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”