Seba Saeed

Ms. Rochman
English 12
12/16/16

Being Frank with Anne Frank

A diary is supposed to be the one place where you can express your thoughts without fear

of criticism. So, why was Anne Frank unable to do so? Sex. Breasts. Lesbian love. Theyre

considered taboo topics--for almost all ages...but did you know that a thirteen year old girl wrote

about them? She experienced the Nazis wrath during World War II, suffering through horrid

concentration camps and death from typhus, but for some reason, certain people consider her

sexual writing to be the most memorable characteristic about her. Anne Frank, a young Jewish

girl, wrote about her private thoughts in a small bound book. Before and after its publication,

Franks writing has been criticized. Anne Franks The Diary of a Young Girl has been challenged

and censored due to sexual conduct, excessive patriotism, and mature themes.

According to National Public Radio (NPR), The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

regularly makes banned book lists. Anne Franks diary was initially censored in Amsterdam

when Otto Frank, her father, decided to have it published. Before submitting it to any publishing

companies, he wanted to remove certain venting passages that might have seemed overly

critical from a third-person perspective. A young girl like Frank, especially one who was

physically as sheltered as she was, would have many thoughts to express. However, Otto Frank

wanted to make sure that he did not alter any descriptions of others relationships with her. Thus,

he made sure that only small sections were taken out. Therefore, the majority of the text

remained the same and was unchanged. Frank himself initiated the long journey towards

challenging and censorship for his daughters diary.

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After his own censorship, Otto Frank offered the diary to Dutch publishing company

Contact, hoping that it would publish the piece. When the company received it however, it

considered Franks work overly sexual. Despite Otto Franks self-censoring, Contact felt that it

was not quite censored enough. In fact, it specifically described Franks writing as tasteless

and unseemly (Karolides, Bald, Sova 401). Thus, Contact censored passages that it deemed

inappropriate. These included Franks description of her sisters menstruation. It also included

her own increasing, albeit natural, curiosity to touch her friends growing breasts. From a young

readers perspective, the text seemed mature, and Contact wanted to ensure that people of all

ages would be able to read the book. By doing this, it would increase sales because more people

would be able to relate to the writing.

In 1950, German publishing firm Lambert Schneider began its own process to publish the

diary. It censored specific passages that German readers might have found offensive. For

example, Franks passage about everyone having to speak softly at all times, in any civilized

language, therefore not in German, was changed to all civilized languages...but softly

(Karolides, Bald, Sova 401). After all, Franks writing was filled with criticism, especially

because her writing was personal, and thus, very biased. Most Jews during World War II disliked

the Nazis almost as much as the Nazis disliked them, and because most of Germany was Nazi,

Frank considered German culture to be uncivilized. This included its language. Although these

passages were taken out in Germany, they were put back into the book in 1952 when it was

published in England.

On a separate note, parents of a middle school student from Wise County, Virginia

challenged the book in 1952. They criticized the work as inappropriate and offensive

(Karolides, Bald, Sova 402). Also, they considered it to be filled with sexual content and
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expressed that Franks disapproval of adults undermines adult authority, making sure to

mention that they did not want their children to be reading the book at such a young age

(Karolides, Bald, Sova 402). Despite their complaints, the book continued to be part of the

school curriculum and was not banned.

The next year, the Alabama State Textbook Commission described the book as unhappy.

In fact, it explicitly labeled it a real downer and depressing (Karolides, Bald, Sova 403).

Although the book itself was not banned, the dictionary added alongside it was--as a result of its

inclusion of sexual definitions. The Alabama State Textbook Commission was not the only

textbook company to challenge Anne Franks diary.

The California State Board of Education wanted to ban the entire book in 1994. It

considered it to be depressing (Muse). The reasoning behind this was that the book reflected

the tragic life of a young girl forced to hide, and was thus too mature for a young child to read. In

fact, the book was not only challenged, but banned. It has since been unbanned. This incidence

was also recorded as part of Banned Book Week during September 22-29 of 2001.

Similar to the parents who challenged The Diary of a Young Girl in Wise County, the

parent of a middle schooler in Culpeper County, Virginia challenged the book in 2010. This

incidence is actually one of the most famous incidences of challenging against The Diary of a

Young Girl. Rather than complaining about the unfortunate Nazi regime during the Second

World War, the parent complained that the book contained too much sexual content. He/she

described Franks writing as reflecting homosexual and sexual themes. After the appeal was

made for his/her daughter to stop being required to read it aloud, the school decided to

discontinue reading of the book for the entire grade allotted. It decided that the book would

probably eventually be taught at a higher grade level, and that the issue would be discussed
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further at another time. At this time, it is not known whether or not the school has made its

decision yet.

Furthermore, in 2014, the mother of a seventh-grader in Northville, Michigan challenged

The Diary of a Young Girl when she deemed the book unsuitable for schoolchildren. She claimed

that it included inappropriate material (Flood). She asked the school to remove the uncensored

version that her child had been reading in school in lieu of the current version, which has been

carefully edited and censored. Prior to its vote, the school board was sent a letter regarding the

decision to ban the book. The letter, written by ten free speech organizations, discussed the

significance of the book. One valuable concept expressed was that Franks honest writing about

her body and the changes she was undergoing...can serve as an excellent resource for students

undergoing these changes (Titus). The organizations, including Kids Right to Read and PEN

America, considered Franks writing to be relevant and pedagogically valuable (Flood).

Persuaded by the letter, the school decided to keep the book in its curriculum.

Despite its controversial themes, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is a personal

piece that had not been initially written for an audience. It was the written version of a young,

thirteen-year-old girls thoughts. No book will ever be accepted by everyone. Each person has

his/her own unique ideas as to what qualifies as an appropriate book, and while some people

feel that Franks diary is a significant piece of literature, others might see it as just the opposite: a

trivial, amateur work. Franks writing has been critically acclaimed and has also been greatly

criticized. In this case, it has been criticized due to sexual, mature themes and an excess of

patriotism. A diary is not supposed to please the reader. Its simply supposed to please the writer.

In this case, the writer was Anne Frank...and her writing sure was as frank as a thirteen year

olds thoughts can get.

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I thought it was really interesting to see how such a well-known, critically acclaimed

book has had its set of troubles. However, as I have grown up, I have come to realize that the

best books are the ones that are not universally approved. For example, the Harry Potter series

was rejected multiple times before one publishing company decided that it would be a good idea

to publish it. Although I considered some of Franks writing to be a little mature when I was

reading it in my eighth grade English class, I thought it was fine because it was a girls diary,

after all. Simultaneously, as ironic as it may sound, I think it is depressing that some places

banned the book simply because it was depressing. How horrid is that! It is ridiculous that

Anne Frank, among many others, suffered through unthinkable pain and torture, yet here we are,

in the twenty-first century, with American people living their comfortable lifestyles and banning

a book simply because it makes them feel anything less than happy. How will we ever appreciate

happiness if there is no sadness? No pain, no gain. While I agree that some of Annes writing is a

bit much for preteens, I do not think that it is okay to go as far as to call it pornographic, which

one mother did.

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Works Cited

Banned Books Remind Us Of The Power Of The Written Word. simon says from NPR, 27

September 2014, www.npr.org/2014/09/27/351811082/banned-books-remind-us-of-the-

power-of-the-written-word.

Bigsby, Christopher. Shut the front door! Times Higher Education, vol. 1, no. 2191, 2015,

pp.

31-31.

Doyle, Robert P. Books Challenged or Banned in 2010-2011. Chicago: American

Library Association, 2011. Print.

Flood, Alison. "Anne Frank's Diary in US Schools Censorship Battle." The Guardian.

Guardian News and Media Limited, 07 May 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.

Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. 120 Banned Books. New

York: Checkmark, 2005. Print.

Kuitert, Lisa. "Publishing House Contact And Its Support For Authors In The Second

World War." Quaerendo 40.3/4 (2010): 305-326. Academic Search Premier. Web. 05

Dec. 2016.

Muse, Daphne. "Banned Book Week September 22-29, 2001: Look What They've Done To My

Books, Mom!." Black Scholar, vol. 32, no. 2, 2002, pp. 22-24.

Titus, Ron. "Banned Books - Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl." Marshall

University Libraries. Marshall University, 21 July 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.