Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation was adapted by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky in 2017. Folman and Polonsky won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign-Language Film in 2008.
BANNED in Clay County and Indian River County public schools
In March of 2023, a conservative Moms for Liberty leader claimed that Ari Folman’s graphic novel adaptation of the globally treasured Anne Frank’s Diary “minimized the Holocaust.”
In April 2023, according to the Associated Press, the Moms for Liberty leader said the Anne Frank graphic novel violated state standards because it doesn’t teach the Holocaust accurately. A passage was cited in which Anne is walking in a park, enchanted by female nude statues. Later, Anne suggests to a friend that they show each other their breasts.
These scenes are based on actual diary entries made by Anne Frank herself, in 1944: “Every time I see a female nude, such as the Venus in my art history book, I go into ecstasy.” And “I asked her whether, as proof of our friendship, we could touch each other’s breasts. Jacque refused.”
For decades, there have been attempts to censor the writing of teenager Anne Frank. Many censors claim the writings’ underlying homosexual themes are inappropriate for young readers.
“Although I’m only fourteen, I know quite well what I want, I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child, I feel quite independent of anyone.”