On Thursday, the Texas school district that ordered an illustrative adaption of Anne Frank’s Diary to go off the shelves in schools re-directed its course and stated that the book “will be on shelves very soon.”
Rick Westfall, superintendent of the Keller Independent School District outside Fort Worth, said that more than 50 copies of the original version of Anne Frank’s diary remain in circulation in the school district and that the ban on the books will be lifted soon.
Source: Times of Israel (Courtesy Anne Frank Fonds)
“Keller ISD is not banning the Bible or the Diary of Anne Frank, as has been suggested in some headlines and shared on social media,” Westfall wrote. He said that only the illustrated version of the diary had been removed from schools pending the implementation of a new policy for reviewing challenged books. “None of the books under re-evaluation were banned,” he added.
The statement did not provide a timeframe for the new policy or any additional details about the original parental challenge to the book, but bringing it back can be credited to the outcry from several Jewish groups who lambasted the district for its policy.
“Removing a version of Anne Frank’s diary from a school library is a disgrace,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, joining other groups like Hadassah, the American Jewish Committee and literary free speech organization PEN America in condemning the school district’s decision.
“This action will only do more harm, preventing future generations from understanding the vital lessons of the Holocaust,” Greenblatt said.
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