Investigation underway

Teenagers burn the “Diary of Anne Frank”

The 15-year-old Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Only her father, Otto Frank, survived. He published his daughter's diary.

(Bild: Collectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam/gemeinfrei)

In the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, young people have damaged and burned a copy of Anne Frank's diary. The Jewish woman was murdered by the National Socialists during the Second World War.

Witnesses observed the three 15 and 16-year-old youths on Wednesday when they damaged a book at a bus stop in Aken in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld and then burned parts of it in a wastepaper basket, as police and the public prosecutor's office announced in Dessau on Thursday.

Suspicion of incitement to hatred
When the police officers arrived, the fire had already been extinguished. The remains of the book were found to be a copy of the "Diary of Anne Frank". The suspects were handed over to their parents at the end of the police investigation. The police launched an investigation on suspicion of incitement to hatred.

Hiding from Nazis
Between 1942 and 1944, Anne Frank's family hid from the Nazis in a rear building on Amsterdam's Prinsengracht canal. This is where the world-famous diary is said to have been written. However, the Franks were betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo. The 15-year-old Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Only her father Otto Frank survived. He published his daughter's diary and turned the house in Amsterdam into a museum.