Man (41) arrested in Poland for projecting slogans on Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

A delegation from the Amsterdam criminal investigation department had been in Poland since Monday morning to be present at the arrest. Ever since the man was suspected in Poland, the Dutch agents had been in contact with their Polish colleagues. They were also at the search of the suspect’s house.

‘Anne Frank inventor of the ballpoint pen’ was projected on Monday 6 February at 9.15 pm on the modern part of the Anne Frank House with a laser. The projection lasted two to three minutes and was done from across the canal at a van. It was immediately noticed by security guards and then disrupted. The video was later shared in a far-right Telegram channel.

The projected text was a reference to a theory that Anne Frank would not have written her diary herself. The Anne Frank House then filed a report.

In the 1960s, a researcher left loose sheets of paper in the diary, which had been written with a ballpoint pen. Right-wing extremists have seen this as proof for years that the diary is fake, because the ballpoint pen was only introduced in the Netherlands after the Second World War. But the sheets were most likely accidentally left in the diary and do not detract from its authenticity, researchers have already found.

“We rarely or never have to deal with anti-Semitic incidents at the Anne Frank House,” said Ronald Leopold, director of the Anne Frank House. “This is a new low point in the series of anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands and the incident is not the smallest incident. We know that there are circles that adhere to this philosophy, yet you are very shocked by this. We also realize what it does to the Jewish community.”

Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema called the projection on the Anne Frank House ‘pure anti-Semitism’ and ‘an attack on Anne Frank’s legacy’.