Will the Anne Frank nursery in Tangierhütte (Saxony-Anhlat, north-east Germany) be renamed "World Explorer"? The daycare's board of directors has voted to remove the name of the Jewish girl who died at the Bergen-Belson camp during World War II, reports Volksstimme, a regional daily. The school's director, Linda Shichor, told our German colleagues that the request came from parents who want a more child-friendly name for the school. According to her, Anne Frank's story is difficult for young children to understand, and parents with an immigrant background do not recognize themselves in the name. "We wanted something without a political background," she says.
The name change process has reportedly been underway since the summer, and is therefore unrelated to the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe linked to Hamas' aggression against Israel on October 7. The independent mayor of the town of 10,000 inhabitants, Andreas Brohm, assures that with the name change, the nursery will be "more open than before" and will better promote "the self-determination and diversity of children". "It is important for the institution to make this conceptual change visible to the outside world," he added to Volksstimme. If parents and employees want a name that better reflects the new concept, it will carry more weight in relation to the global political situation," he continued. However, the city council, which must approve the name change, has not yet set a date for the vote.
Wolfgang Schneiss, regional commissioner for Jewish life and the fight against anti-Semitism, said he "understands the positive impulse" of the name change, but regrets "that a place reminiscent of Anne Frank has been lost as a result." In 2021, the Anne Frank kindergarten in Elxleben (Thuringia, central Germany) decided against changing its name in the face of an outcry. Mayor Heiko Koch (CDU, Germany's right) apologised, but said he was "very surprised" by the scale of the reactions.