Anti-Semitic projection on Anne Frank House

This article was last updated on October 19, 2023

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42-year-old Robert W. has been sentenced to two months in prison for projecting an anti-Semitic text on the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

The projection contained the text in English and Dutch: “Anne Frank, inventor of the ballpoint pen”, with which W. suggested that she would not have written her diary herself (see box). Early October the Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded a six-month prison sentence and a five-year ban from the city of Amsterdam.

The court of Amsterdam stilt that “the statement can be regarded as a form of Holocaust denial, given the great symbolic significance of Anne Frank’s diary for the commemoration of the persecution of the Jews.” The court finds it very likely that W. traveled from Poland to Amsterdam to carry out this plan.

During the hearing in early October, the court ruled that W. could await the verdict in freedom. He was previously held in pre-trial detention for 90 days. This means he no longer has to serve time. The judge also did not impose a restraining order on him.

Telegram video

In addition to projecting the sentence, W. was also suspected of making and distributing a video of the projection. He allegedly made this with a drone and distributed it online via the Telegram messaging service. The video featured discriminatory and anti-Semitic lyrics, in an adaptation of Everybody Wants to Rule the World by the British band Tears for Fears.

The court cannot determine that W. posted the video and acquits him. However, according to the judge, there are “strong indications” that the suspect “was involved in the production of the video”.

A laser beamer was found in W.’s house in Poland, with which projections can be made. Authorities also found the drone with which he took the images for the video in Amsterdam.

Ballpoint pen myth

The text of the projection has to do with the myth of the so-called ballpoint pen passages. Loose sheets of paper that had been written with a ballpoint pen were found in Anne Frank’s diary in the 1980s. Right-wing extremists see this as evidence that the diary is a fake, because the ballpoint pen was only introduced in the Netherlands after the Second World War.

The ballpoint pen sheets were most likely accidentally left in the diary by a researcher in the 1960s. The sheets do not detract from the authenticity of the diary, as has been previously confirmed by researchers demonstrated.

During the hearing in early October, W. denied having projected the texts and also said that he was not responsible for the video. He stated that he was staying at a hotel in Amsterdam and was in town for his fiancée’s birthday. He said he did not know where the Anne Frank House is.

In July, W. was arrested at Frankfurt airport and extradited to the Netherlands. He was arrested once before in Poland, but wanted to leave for Canada despite an exit ban. However, the German police stopped him.

Even more criminal cases

A criminal case against W. is still ongoing in Poland for promoting fascism and sowing hatred. For example, he stood with a sign with hateful texts at the world-famous gate of the Auschwitz extermination camp. There is also a case against him in San Diego. According to the Public Prosecution Service, he played an active role in right-wing extremist circles in the United States.