"We hope the world will learn from this about the Holocaust": Behind Anne Frank's Google Doodle

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the publication of her diary, Anne Frank is commemorated for the first time on Google Doodle.

In a special interview with Walla!

Culture, the project managers at Google tell why it made them cry and why they attach a warning to anyone who chooses to surf it

Avner Shavit

24/06/2022

Friday, 24 June 2022, 15:00 Updated: 15:01

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Trailer for "My Best Girlfriend, Anne Frank" (Netflix)

If Anne Frank had been alive, she would have celebrated her 93rd birthday about two weeks ago.

If she were an animal of our generation, she would probably use Google, using it to find information about her favorite things - movies, cats and world peace.

Unfortunately, she never had a chance to do that.

She died in the Nazi extermination camps in 1945, when she was only 15 years old.

Two years later, on June 25, 1947, her diary was first published.

Today (Friday), on the eve of the 75th anniversary of its publication, it is commemorated for the first time on Google Doodle - the visual image that promotes the surfers and surfers on the home page of the world's popular search engine.

The doodle will be available worldwide, but it is an individual choice of each country whether to use it, and it is interesting if there will be countries that will choose to ignore it.

In Israel, in any case, it is available, of course, and it is more than just a single illustration - but a kind of presentation, which presents us with a few quotes from the diary that published Anne Frank, as well as images inspired by her and her life and heritage.

Before choosing to browse Doodle, Google adds a warning that this is "sensitive content".

One may wonder about this decision.

Anne Frank's diary presents from the outset a relatively sterile version of the atrocities, for his notebook stopped writing it before it reached the camps, and this version refines the contents even more.

So if a warning is needed here as well, what representation of the Holocaust will not be needed?

Isn’t this an opening that invites or at least allows the audience to evade dealing with the issue?

More on Walla!

This is the movie that Anne Frank deserves.

This is the movie the world needed

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"Caution: Sensitive Content."

From Google Doodle (Photo: Google)

I understand your question, "Jessica Hugh, head of the Google Doodle team, told me in a special zoom call with Walla! Culture on the occasion of the project." We do not hide the Holocaust, on the contrary - but we must respect everyone, and we know why people Going into Google.

They do not necessarily do it to look for information about Anne Frank or the Holocaust.

Maybe they'm just looking for a recipe, or they'm on their way to a work meeting, and we want to give them a second to think for a moment.

There are all kinds of ways to learn about the subject.

It may not be the right moment for them.

"" For us, the story of Anne Frank is also the story of the Holocaust, and we also made sure to frame it in a broad context, "she adds. Their first with him and give them a historical introduction.

The format of the presentation allows them to do it however they want.

This is not a video that runs fast, and they can take the time,

The conversation takes place with a small group of journalists from around the world.

One of them asks what is the average number of clicks on Google Doodle.

It is naive of him to think that he will receive an answer - of course the information is confidential.

Google, on the other hand, is willing to reveal that "Anne Frank" is a popular phrase in the search engine.

The popularity peaked last February, when the Dutch film "My Best Friend, Anne Frank" aired on Netflix.

The Netherlands is also at the forefront of searches on the subject.

Israel is not one of the pinnacle of searches, but as it does, our most popular question is "How did Anne Frank die?"

And then "When was Anne Frank Born?".

And one last statistic: the search for the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is even more common than the search for the Van Gogh Museum, which indicates how much of a pilgrimage site it is.

More on Walla!

So I stopped being afraid and learned to love Anne Frank

To the full article

"It may not be the right moment for surfers."

Anna's Google Doodle (Photo: Google)

Behind the beautiful illustrations is Tuka Marr, the artistic director of Google Doodle - an artist who lives and works in New York, but she happens to be German and declares that she also acted out of "the sense of responsibility and constant awareness of my generation to preserve and commemorate the memory of the Holocaust."

"I first read the diary when I was eight or nine, that is, when I was younger than Mane Frank at the time of writing the diary," she says in a conversation with me.

"When you're that age, you perceive anyone who is even a little older than you as an adult, so I could not appreciate how talented and discerning she was relative to her age. "Extraordinarily deep and sharp."

"I did as in-depth research as possible, so that the processing was as authentic as possible," she says.

"Over time, I felt that Anna was becoming for me from a historical icon to a flesh-and-blood figure close to me. It was a very emotional process,

"This is a question I asked myself, and I kept saying to myself and to those who worked with me on the project - we must think of Anne Frank, and think what she would have thought of the outcome. We must ask ourselves 'would she approve of what we are doing now?' "And move on only if the answer is yes. Obviously you can not be sure of that, but I think if you do a thorough enough investigation, then you can get a pretty good idea about her mindset."

More on Walla!

The ballad about Ari and Anna

To the full article

Toka Marr, the artistic director of Google Doodle, while working on the project (Photo: Google)

There have been many previous adaptations to the diary.

Perhaps the most relevant of them for this project are the graphic novel and the animated film by Ari Pullman.

Have you tried to draw inspiration from them or rather stay away?

"Get away. It was of course a challenge, to add further processing to something that already has so many versions. I wanted to do something specific to this format, which appeals to a wide audience around the world and requires a different perspective. For me, what allowed me to do so was dive so deep into the world Who was around, and then I created inspired by him and not inspired by other adaptations. "

"It was a team effort. The Anne Frank Foundation was also a partner in it, and approved everything. We edited and shortened the texts, and we state this explicitly, but we also wanted to be faithful to the authenticity of the source, and the broader context. "People read it when they are at home and looking for recipes. Therefore, we chose sections that the audience can digest."

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• holocaust