Illustrated version of Anne Frank’s diary gets teacher fired over sexual content

School districts in Florida and Texas have been slammed for pulling “Anne Frank’s Diary,” but it turns out there’s more than one version of the Jewish girl’s famed journal of her life under Nazi occupation — and not all of them are G-rated.

A middle-school teacher at the Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District in Texas was dismissed after having students read aloud a sexually explicit passage from “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation,” a 2018 illustrated work adapted by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky.

Earlier this year, the Indian River County school district in Vero Beach, Florida, removed “Anne Frank’s Diary” following a challenge from Moms for Liberty. The Keller Independent School District near Fort Worth, Texas, placed the illustrated book in a Parent Consent Area after it was challenged.

The 2018 adaptation, not to be confused with the 1952 classic “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,” includes passages in which Anne describes female and male genitalia. At one point, she asks a friend at a sleepover if they can show each other their breasts. The friend refuses.

“If only she had known my terrible desire to kiss her,” Anne thinks as she lies beside the girl, as shown in the illustrated work.

Those passages were not invented: They were part of Anne’s original writings but edited out as her father, Otto Frank, prepared her diary for publication in 1947 following her death at age 15 in a Nazi concentration camp. The English-language version was published in 1952.

Her entries about sexuality were restored in “The Diary of Anne Frank: The Critical Edition” (1989) and “The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition” (1995), along with passages about her stormy relationship with her mother.

“In a modern translation, this definitive edition contains entries about Anne’s burgeoning sexuality and confrontations with her mother that were cut from previous editions,” said the 1995 book’s description on Amazon.

As a result, school officials who grew up with the 1952 version may not realize which Anne Frank they’re getting when they order copies of the diary she wrote when she and her family were in hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

Mike Canizales, a spokesperson for Hamshire-Fannett schools, told KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas, last week that the graphic adaptation was not sanctioned by the district. A substitute has taken over while the district searches for a “high-quality, full-time teacher,” he said.

“A version of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ book that was not approved by the district was read in class,” Mr. Canizales said. “The teacher was sent home [Sept. 13]. There is an active investigation.”

The book takes more liberties with its illustrations. One page shows Anne walking through an apparently imaginary garden of Greco-Roman nude female statues.

“I must admit, every time I see a female nude, I go into ecstasy,” she says in the caption. “If only I had a girlfriend.”

A teacher asking her students to discuss sexual groping and lusting for a girlfriend. Is that how an educator teaches kids the story of Anne Frank? 

There is one thing you’ll never find within ideologues: honesty. https://t.co/TmboCQmWzE pic.twitter.com/Z1EVl4DHDi

— Theo Jordan (@Theo_TJ_Jordan) September 20, 2023

Amy Manuel, whose twin eighth-grade sons are in the class, took issue with the teacher who assigned the reading.

“I mean it’s bad enough, she’s having them read this for an assignment, but then she also is making them read it aloud and making a little girl talk about feeling each other’s breasts and when she sees a female she goes into ecstasy, that’s not OK,” Ms. Manuel told KFDM-TV.

The district told parents in an email that the reading material was “not appropriate” for eighth-graders.

“The reading of that content will cease immediately. Your student’s teacher will communicate her apologies to you and your students soon, as she has expressed those apologies to us,” said the district.

Among those outraged by the teacher’s dismissal was Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who tweeted: “Texas teacher fired for reading Diary of Anne Frank to class-THIS Speaks for itself!!!”

School-choice activist Corey DeAngelis swung back with “this is a lie,” while the X platform tacked a community note onto Ms. Weingarten’s tweet.

“The book the teacher read was not The Diary of Anne Frank, it was Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation,” the X note read.

Those defending the book included the Anne Frank Fonds, the Swiss-based foundation started by Otto Frank that authorized the graphic adaptation.

“We consider the book of a 12-year-old girl to be appropriate reading for her peers,” the foundation said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The Anne Frank House, a museum in Amsterdam, posted that “banning” the book “because of certain passages is a mixed opportunity to introduce young people to Anne Frank’s life story and the history of the #Holocaust.”

Others pointed out that the 2018 edition isn’t the only book on the shelves by or about Anne Frank, who was presented with a diary for her 13th birthday.

David Moore, superintendent of Indian River County schools, made no mention of the book’s sexual content earlier this year after removing the book, saying it was pulled “due to the content being inconsistent with policy/statute and was perceived to be a minimization of the Holocaust.”

“Please note that our media centers do have the original ‘Diary of Anne Frank,’” Mr. Moore said in an April 5 statement.

Moms for Liberty said that Florida law requires books about the Holocaust to be “historically accurate,” adding that students have access to more than 300 versions of Anne Frank’s diaries as well as history books on the Holocaust.

“There are multiple versions of Anne Frank’s diary of varying age appropriateness available to students,” the organization said. “Only this ONE version was removed. It is not an entirely accurate portrayal of the tragedy of the Holocaust and murders against the Jewish population because of hate.”