A progressive LGBTQ media outlet has sparked outrage on social media after speculating about the sexuality of Anne Frank.
Pink News ran an article on the late Holocaust victim this week, writing, ‘Was Anne Frank lesbian or bisexual? Her diary certainly proves she was attracted to girls.’
While the Jewish teenager’s diary does indeed indicate that she may have been attracted to boys and girls, some social media users were still outraged by the speculation.
‘Shut the f**k up. It’s no one’s business and to speculate is more than morbid, and incredibly crass. WTF is wrong with you?’ raged one.
‘Can you please take this down? It is unnecessary and degrading,’ wrote another.
A third added, ‘You are not, in any way, helping your cause with this. It’s baffling to me.’
However, some users felt that the article was valid considering how much Anne shared about her own sexuality in her widely published diary.
A progressive LGBTQ media outlet has sparked outrage on social media after speculating about the sexuality of Anne Frank
‘Why is it normal to fill kids Disney movies with romantic plots and that’s not seen as sexual but as soon as it’s not a hetero love interest it’s “sexual”. God forbid you ever had a crush on someone as a kid,’ asked one.
‘Me and my friends were obsessed with Anne Frank’s undiscussed bisexuality in middle school and whenever we did something covertly gay we called it Franking,’ added another.
In her diary, Anne hinted at potential romantic feelings for her best friend Jacqueline van Maarsen.
However, she also had a crush on friend Peter van Pels.
Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl known for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding amid Nazi persecution during Hitler’s occupation of the Netherlands.
Anne, her older sister and parents lived in an apartment near Merwede square, after moving to the Dutch capital from Nazi Germany in 1938.
The Frank family were forced to go into hiding four years later when the persecution of Jews escalated.
Pink News ran an article on the late Holocaust victim this week, writing, ‘Was Anne Frank lesbian or bisexual? Her diary certainly proves she was attracted to girls’
Users on social media were divided, but many found the speculation offensive
They lived in concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne’s father, Otto Frank, worked.
The family were discovered by the Gestapo in 1944 and sent to concentration camps. Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died.
Otto was the only Holocaust survivor in the Frank family.
In 1947, he published Anne’s diary about their life in hiding, submitting to history arguably the most moving testament of World War II.
It remains one of the most widely read books in the world, with more than 30 million people having read The Diary Of A Young Girl in 70 languages.
Its author has become an icon of quiet defiance against the Nazis and a symbol of the indomitable human spirit.
Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl known for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding amid Nazi persecution during Hitler’s occupation of the Netherlands
In February, Anne’s best friend Jacqueline Sanders-van Maarsen died aged 96.
Jacqueline met Anne at school in Amsterdam in 1941, after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands.
Their friendship lasted for a full school year before Anne was forced into hiding with her family in July 1942.
The pair always promised to write each other a farewell letter if they could no longer see each other.
On September 25, 1942, Anne penned the promised letter in her diary, writing: ‘I hope that until we see each other again, we will always remain “best” friends.’
A statement from the Anne Frank Museum said: ‘With great sorrow, we announce the passing of Jacqueline Sanders-van Maarsen on 13 February at the age of 96.
‘Jacqueline was a classmate of Anne Frank at the Jewish Lyceum and shared her memories of their friendship throughout her life.’
