After Tokyo Libraries’ Anne Frank Books Were Defaced, Israel Offered to Replace Them
At least 300 books about the young Jewish girl who was killed in the Holocaust, including her famous diary, were vandalized in Tokyo libraries.
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Someone in Tokyo really doesn’t like Anne Frank. At least 300 books about the young Jewish girl who was killed in the Holocaust, including her famous diary, were vandalized in Tokyo libraries. According to the latest reports, the Suginami district was a particularly large target, with 121 books defaced.
Earlier, the New York Times reported:
Local news media reports said 31 municipal libraries had found 265 copies of the diary by Frank, the young Holocaust victim, and other books vandalized, usually with several pages torn or ripped out. The reports said some libraries had taken copies of the diary off their shelves to protect them.
Government officials in Japan have decried the vandalism as a “shameful act,” and a police task force was established to investigate the crime. In the meantime, the Israeli embassy has donated 300 books about Anne Frank to the Tokyo public library system, to replace the damaged copies.