German soccer fans create photo of Anne Frank in rival team’s jersey

Police investigating Borussia Dortmund supporters, said to include neo-Nazis, who distributed stickers mocking Holocaust victim

By JTA 31 October 2017, 4:16 pm

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Stickers showing a doctored photo of Anne Frank wearing a German soccer team’s jersey in Dusseldorf, Germany (Twitter)

Stickers showing a doctored photo of Anne Frank wearing a German soccer team’s jersey appeared in Dusseldorf, Germany, a week after a similar incident in Rome.

The stickers show the teenage Holocaust diarist in a Schalke team jersey.

It is believed that the stickers were created by fans of the Borussia Dortmund soccer team, which reportedly has a number of neo-Nazis as part of their hardcore fan base.

Photos of the stickers were first posted on the German blog Ruhr Barone.de.

German police are investigating the incident, according to reports. Anti-Semitism is a crime in German, as is Holocaust denial.

An image of Holocaust victim Anne Frank with reading ‘We are all Anne Frank,’ prior to the Italian Serie A soccer match Bologna vs Lazio on October 25, 2017, at the Renato-Dall’Ara stadium in Bologna. (AFP PHOTO / Gianni SCHICCHI)

Last week a passage from “The Diary of Anne Frank” was read out prior to all soccer games – youth games, amateur and professional – throughout Italy after fans of the Lazio club posted the stickers around Rome’s Olympic Stadium showing Anne Frank wearing the shirt of the Roma team. The teams share the stadium. Roma is often associated with being left wing and Jewish.

Also in response, Lazio president Claudio Lotito visited Rome’s main synagogue where he laid a wreath of flowers in memory of Holocaust victims and condemned the actions of the fans. He also said the team would take 200 fans per year to visit Auschwitz.