On Christian Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, a mural of Anne Frank in Amersfoort was vandalized — her face carefully, meticulously erased. Painted more than 15 years ago by artist Bas van Oudheusden (alias Repelsteeltje), the mural originally appeared illegally on a noise barrier along the A28 motorway before being embraced and maintained by Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch national public works agency. Rijkswaterstaat’s acceptance symbolized a societal commitment to preserving Anne Frank’s legacy as a powerful emblem of innocence, courage, and the catastrophic consequences of hatred.
Now the mural stands defaced, symbolizing a disturbing trend across the Netherlands. Recently, Anne Frank monuments in Amsterdam and Gouda were similarly smeared with red paint and vandalized with pro-Gaza slogans, turning solemn memorials of Jewish suffering into provocative platforms for contemporary political protest. While some individuals may genuinely believe in expanding commemorations to recognize contemporary suffering, appropriating and distorting Holocaust memorials dangerously undermines the unique historical significance of Jewish victimhood and memory.
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