Anne Frank qu(e)er thinking? — On the reception of her queer diary reflections between conservative culture war and anti-heteronormative appropriation

Lecture with discussion on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 4 PM in queerKAstle (Liebigstraße 10–12, 76135 Karlsruhe)
On January 6, 1944, the then 14-year-old Anne Frank confided in her diary how, before the time in her Amsterdam hiding place, i.e., at least a year and a half earlier, she had unsuccessfully suggested to her friend Jacqueline mutual touching of their breasts and how she always became "ecstatic" when she "saw a naked female figure." This queer passage was omitted from the Dutch first edition of the diary in 1947 out of consideration for "puritanical or Catholic sensibilities" and was only published in the English edition of 1952. Because of it, right-wing activists in the USA have been trying for a few years to remove a comic adaptation of the diary from school libraries, even leading to a teacher being fired for its use in the classroom.
The lecture traces the eventful reception history and asks how we, as multipliers, can bring the knowledge of Anne Frank's queerness, which historian and pioneer of queer Holocaust history Anna Hájková considers "central" to understanding Anne Frank, into society and thus make Anne Frank a possible role model for queer youth.