After migrant parent pressure, Anne Frank daycare center to be renamed - report

[sarisataka]

Last edited Wed Nov 8, 2023, 01:40 PM - Edit history (1)

After migrant parent pressure, Anne Frank daycare center to be renamed - report

Parents in Saxony-Anhalt German State promoted the decision to rename the "Anne Frank" daycare center in Tangerhütte, a small town in the state, according to reports in German media.

The move was driven by parents who found it difficult to explain Frank's significance to their children. According to Apollo News, a German news site, in a small town in Saxony-Anhalt, a daycare center has become the center of a local scandal.

The "Anne Frank" daycare center in Tangerhütte, which has been operating for generations, is set to undergo a name change. The decision to rename the daycare center, named after the most famous Jewish girl, has sparked controversy.

The idea of changing of name of Frank, who tragically died in a concentration camp at the age of 15, has come from migrant parents, according to the daycare center's director. "It is reported that parents with migrant backgrounds feel uncertain about the name and find it challenging to explain to their children," the report said.

https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-771852

ETA> additional info from the original article in the German newspaper Volksstimme (courtesy Google translate)

According to the city administration, the desire to change the name comes from parents and employees of the daycare center. When asked by Volksstimme, head Linda Schichor speaks of a change process that has been underway since the summer. The children's council at the facility chose a name that was more child-friendly. According to the director, the story of Anne Frank is difficult to understand, especially for small children. Even parents with a migrant background often have nothing to do with the name. “We wanted something without political background,” says Schichor. A signature collection for the new name is currently underway among the parents.

According to Andreas Brohm (independent), mayor of Tangerhütte, the name change is accompanied by a new concept. The daycare center is now more open than before and promotes the children's self-determination and diversity much more strongly. “It is important to the institution to make this conceptual change visible to the outside world,” says Brohm. In view of the war in the Middle East, he sees no need to discuss the name again: “If parents and employees want a name that better reflects the new concept, that has more weight compared to the global political situation.”

https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/tangerhuette/kita-anne-frank-in-tangerhuette-namensaenderung-geplant-3722742

[Easterncedar]

1. A daycare and kids are asking about the name?

Something’s wrong with this story. Really.

[leftstreet]

10. Story is very fishy

"parents with migrant backgrounds" yet nowhere in the article does it say where they're from.

There are over 100 schools and at least as many childcare ctrs in Germany incorporating Anne Frank's name. Why this particular one?

I smell bullshit

[Mosby]

14. I would provide more links

But they come from websites that are considered right wing so they violate the rules here.

There is a NYT article, I can't read it because of the paywall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/world/europe/germany-school-anne-frank.html

[sarisataka]

18. I added some context to the OP

From the German paper referenced in the NYT article.

[madaboutharry]

2. Sorry, but my critical thinking skills are on high alert with this poor excuse.

Children in daycare being concerned with the name of a daycare center? I think not.

This is what I do think: Adults who bring their children there have a problem with Anne Frank, The Holocaust, and Jewish people.

[ananda]

6. Yeah, I mean, difficult to explain her significance? Really?

Sheesh

[PatSeg]

28. Growing up

I had no idea who certain people were even though their names were on schools and streets. We just accepted that was the name and no one explained who those people were. James Hart Junior High, Joe Orr Road, and O'Hare Airport - they were real people of some significance, but for kids they were names like Central School, Ridge Road, and Midway Airport.

I can imagine that kids in daycare don't question the school's name.

[pinkstarburst]

3. First, I can't imagine any children care about the name of their daycare

center. Second, why can't migrant parents simply give an age appropriate explanation, or if the child is too young, change the subject? I find it distasteful that the name, honoring this lovely Jewish girl killed during the Holocaust, would be changed, especially because migrants are complaining they don't like the name. Sounds like racism and hatred of Jewish people from the parents is the real problem here.

[redqueen]

4. This is alarming

Seriously disappointed that they caved and will change the name.

Sorry to say but I have to wonder about the religion / culture of the immigrants who are claiming the issue is explaining the name to their children.

[sl8]

24. It sounds like it's far from a done deal:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/world/europe/germany-school-anne-frank.html

[...]

“I [Wolfgang Schneiß, an official overseeing issues of Jewish life in the state government ] and the government of Saxony-Anhalt have no sympathy for such a renaming,” he said in an email. “It does not fit our times. There are many good ways of communicating the topic of Anne Frank to young children in a contemporary way, especially to people with a migration history.”

Sven Schulze, a government minister in Saxony-Anhalt, said that members of his Christian Democratic Union party serving on Tangerhütte’s town council would not support the renaming. “Not only in today’s world, but in general, such a suggestion is completely absurd, instinctive and small-minded,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The chairman of the town council told the German news media that he and other council members would put forward a resolution to reject the renaming and would call on the mayor to issue a clear statement against any change.

“On Wednesday, the city council will unanimously take a position against the request to rename the day care center,” the chairman, Werner Jacob, told the Welt newspaper.

[ismnotwasm]

5. This is terrifying

Erasing, even in the smallest way, the history of the holocaust scares the crap out of me. Humans kill each other far too easily.

[getagrip_already]

7. This is beyond reason....

Disclaimer: While I am not personally jewish, I am related through marriage to Holocaust survivors.

My personal opinion is that if immigrants, likely receiving free or heavily subsidized childcare as a service in germany, have difficulty discussing the Holocaust with their children, the fault is not with the name of the childcare center. They should take a long hard look in the mirror.

Additionally, the managers of the center should consider another career. Or another career should be imposed upon them.

This is all kind of under the covers racism.

[MiniMe]

11. Did you really call it the hoolocaust?

Instead of the holocaust? That surprises me if you have holocaust survivors in your family.

[Easterncedar]

15. Don't be silly

[MiniMe]

20. What?

He spelled it Hoolocaust and Hollocaust in one post. I find that offensive.

[getagrip_already]

19. sorry, it was a typo, i'll correct....

Not an intentional spelling, I assure you.

btw, is that a thing? I've never heard it before.

[MiniMe]

21. Fix the hollocaust too please

[getagrip_already]

25. I did them both at the same time.....

Didn't mean to offend, just not a touch typist. I don't look at the screen while I type so stuff slips by.

[MiniMe]

30. Kind of like autocorrect

I have typed all sorts of strange things because of autocorrect.

[stopdiggin]

8. the juxtaposition of the tragic Anne Frank saga - and day care .. ?

No one else .. ?

[RobinA]

31. Me

It astounds me that anyone would name a daycare after a figure symbolizing a massive war crime and attempted genocide. I mean, name almost any other feature on the landscape after Anne Frank, but a place where children go to have fun? Anne Frank Center for Peace? Sure. Anne Frank Memorial Park? Yep. But a day care? That's weird to me.

[EllieBC]

9. Why can't the migrant parents explain

who Anne Frank was to their children?

My kids have known about Anne Frank and the Holocaust since they could listen.

This isn’t hard. Stop giving into people who want to pretend Jews don’t matter.

[Coventina]

12. Are the migrants Muslims?

This story is troubling on many levels.

[leftstreet]

13. Looks like the story is already getting debunked

Link to tweet

?s=20

whatever was proposed isn't happening

[sarisataka]

16. You shouldn't trust Twitter

That is conflating an attempt to rename the Anne Frank Kindergarten in Thuringia two years ago. That plan was dropped.

[leftstreet]

17. Uh, okay

That's not what the referenced pay walled article in German actually says, but okay

[sarisataka]

23. This is what i found in the Volksstimme article

Wolfgang Schneiß, the contact person for Jewish life in Saxony-Anhalt and against anti-Semitism, commented on the name change in a nuanced way: “I understand the positive impulse, but I regret that a place that is reminiscent of Anne Frank will be lost as a result.”

When a kindergarten in Thuringia wanted to drop the girl's name two years ago, the regional Jewish community reacted indignantly. Even back then, people were arguing about the burgeoning anti-Semitism. The mayor there then rowed back.

In Tangerhütte, the city council ultimately has to decide, says Mayor Andreas Brohm. However, there is still no schedule and no time pressure for the renaming

Notice one is a kindergarten, the other a daycare.

Now it is possible the town council made a decision to keep the name in the last 48 hours, but it doesn't change the fact that there is/was an effort to change the name.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. The point is your Volkstimme article is from the weekend; "Die Welt" is more up to date

Translated, it says

"Anne Frank" – City council unanimously rejects daycare center renaming

...
The chairmen of the parliamentary group of the city council of the unified municipality of Tangerhütte then announced that they would unanimously reject the renaming of the local daycare center "Anne Frank". "On Wednesday, the city council will unanimously position itself against the request to rename the daycare center," said Werner Jacob (CDU), chairman of the city council, WELT. According to Jacob, all parliamentary group chairmen support a corresponding position paper of the CDU Tangerhütte.

The wording of the "Joint Statement of the Parliamentary Groups in the City Council of the Unified Municipality of the City of Tangerhütte on the Intended Renaming of the 'Anne Frank' Daycare Center" is available to WELT. The following parliamentary groups are listed as signatories: CDU/FDP, UWGSA, SPD, Die Linke, WG Zukunft, WG Altmark and WG Lüderitz. "The factions of the city council of the unified municipality of the city of Tangerhütte demand that the mayor give Mr. Brohm a clear rejection of this renaming," the statement reads, referring to Mayor Andreas Brohm (non-party).

[sarisataka]

33. I can concede the council will reject the proposal

But is does not negate the fact there was a proposal made. It appears some are trying to deny that the proposal was made and seriously considered.

[stopdiggin]

34. doesn't sound like it was

very seriously considered. Almost unanimously rejected by anybody that was actually consulted?

[obamanut2012]

22. Leftstreet is correct -- this is not about an incident from two years ago

[sarisataka]

26. See above post nt

[DFW]

27. Sounds very fishy, and my girls DID go to an Anne Frank Elementary School here in Germany

It was so named by the locals as a deliberate insult for the school building having been the local Gestapo Headquarters during the Nazi era. It is still called that, and my girls haven't been pupils there since nearly thirty years ago. Our town is in the Rheinland near Düsseldorf. The kids at this school ALL learn about the life, persecution and death of Anne Frank, just as my daughters did 30 years ago. The people here in the Rheinland care about that kind of thing. Just this afternoon in Köln (Cologne), there was a big event put on equally by the Catholic and Protestant churches for their fellow Germans who happened to be Jewish. It has become more politically correct of late to look away when buildings housing Jewish cultural organizations have been trashed or vandalized, and the Rheinländer are having none of it. Down the road is the Geschwister Scholl school, in honor of Hans and Sophie Scholl, the White Rose, whom Hitler had guillotined while they were still college students protesting the Nazis during the war.

There is a sort of "Republican lite" movement here called the AfD (the Alternative for Germany), but they don't poll well in this part of Germany, and no one anywhere wants them as part of a coalition. They are openly anti-foreigner, but even they don't dare get openly anti-Jewish. Rob someone of their cash and jewelry, and the German cops might say, "too bad," but get involved with overt anti-Jewish activity here, and the Federal police and the Office of the Constitution are liable to get involved. Once you're on their radar for anti-Jewish activity in Germany, you're never off it. Not wise.

[enid602]

29. Migrant daycare centers

Glad to hear that Germany has migrant daycare centers, and not just cages.