A Florida high school has yanked a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s Diary from its shelves after a parents’ advocacy group called Moms For Liberty lodged a complaint that it was sexually explicit and minimized the Holocaust.

(Video Credit: NBC News)

The graphic novel is titled “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation.” Vero Beach High School in Indian River County removed the graphic novel after parents complained about it following a review of the book.

The book was adapted by Ari Folman in 2018 and it was illustrated by David Polonsky. Folman is the son of Holocaust survivors.

The book is one of four that have been taken out of school libraries in the county after being reviewed and deemed unsuitable for young readers, according to TCPalm.

The books were nixed for either containing sexually explicit, violent or woke politicized content, a move supported and promoted by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

The chairwoman of the group’s Indian River chapter, Jennifer Pippin, told WPTV in an interview that the group objected to the book because it contains a “graphic scene” where Anne Frank proposes to a friend that they show each other their breasts. Another scene where she walks among nude statues is also considered inappropriate.

“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” was removed in Indian River County FL schools for “minimization of the Holocaust.”

Florida state standards dictate that all teaching of the Holocaust must be historically correct, specifically 6A-1.094124 (3)(b). It was decided that… pic.twitter.com/ZpQZ2YMvs5

— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) April 10, 2023

“We think true history absolutely needs to be taught, the Holocaust, the Anne Frank diary,” Pippin stated, contending that the visual depiction of sexuality in the graphic novel is unacceptable.

Following the complaint from Moms For Liberty, the school ruled that some of the text in the book did not contribute to the themes of Holocaust education.

Dr. Kyra Schafter, who is the district’s director for academic compliance and equity, explained, “When districts address Holocaust education, it does so without denying or minimizing the events of Holocaust education. In these times, the content did not promote behaviors we would want our students to have access to.”

https://twitter.com/MsBradsher/status/1645638648933539841

She stated that the original “Diary of Anne Frank” is still available in school libraries. Teaching about the history of the Holocaust is mandated in Florida schools.

Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl” was published in 1947 and details what she went through and suffered as she hid from the Nazis with her family in Amsterdam during World War II.

She was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944 and later died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 from Typhus. She passed away just weeks before the camp was liberated.

Anne Frank (1929-1945) & her sister Margot were transported to Bergen-Belsen in late October 1944 & housed in the ‘Women’s Camp’.
They died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen within days of each other in March 1945. #Belsen78 pic.twitter.com/8yv283VXeF

— Holocaust Education (@UCL_Holocaust) April 9, 2023

The three other books that were removed, which were part of a series titled “Assassination Classroom” that were found at the Gifford Middle School library, were about a junior high teacher who was really an alien with superpowers, according to TCPalm.

Pippin claimed those books were inappropriate because they contained illustrations of students with guns in a classroom.

“We don’t want students to think it’s OK to kill their teachers,” she told WPTV.

Pippin says that the advocacy group will challenge approximately 250 more titles in the future.

Indian River County has recently created a “District Objection Committee,” which will convene when there are formal challenges to books in school libraries. It is comprised of nine people, containing a mixture of parents appointed by school board members and district employees, including someone with an educational media specialist certificate.

Over 100 books have been removed from school libraries in Florida as educational policies have been put in place that allow their removal based on parents’ complaints. Thousands of others are also under review.

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