Anne Frank - should people have heard about her?

[MilkTrayLimeBarrel]

Chatting with DH about where to go for a city break this spring. I suggested Amsterdam - lots to see, including tulips, canals, bikes and Anne Frank's house. He asked who she was? AIBU to think that everybody should have heard of her and what she stood for/did? I couldn't believe that he honestly had no idea who she was!

Yes!

I would have thought her name came up in every school when doing the Holocaust?!

How old is your DH?!

YANBU

YANBU.

You'd have to be massively ignorant to reach adulthood and not have heard of Anne Frank.

I wasn't taught anything about WWII at school. I was interested and read many books about it at home.

Yanbu. When I met my fiancé he didn't know who John Lennon was and it left me speechless!

I did both wars at GCSE but I'm also fairly sure her name came up in English and as a suggested text fairly frequently. I read it at about 12-13 or so.

It's been in the National Curriculum for KS3 for at least 10 years to my knowledge and long before then, her story featured in children's television in the 1980s and drama. I suppose it depends upon how old your DH is and whether he paid the slightest bit of attention to the world around him and lessons.

Is he British? I’d be seriously shocked if my DH didn’t know who she was! My 11 yo is reading her diary!

@Aroundtheworldin8oves nothing at all? Ever? That seems very odd.

@firsttimemamma 👀 HOW?!

Both my DC (22 &24) did Anne Frank in year 5/6. We have also been to the house.

That is pretty shocking and ignorant.

I have a history degree and studied the Holocaust and Anne Frank was not mentioned once. I know about her through wider reading and my Grandad bought me her diary when I was about 12. She might be on the school curriculum now but she definitely wasn't in the 1980s.

I buy DD lots of books about important females in history, and rightly so, she is in every single book.

I can't believe, as a PP said, someone has got to adulthood and never heard of her.

As an aside, but relevant, I hate watching quiz shows when contestants have not heard of someone from history of great merit, whether it be music, acting, science, etc., And then say 'it was before my time' 😠😠😠

Well - DH is early 50s but even so, surely he would have heard of her?? I am going to book Amsterdam and take him there to educate him!

Yep! That's unbelievable!

Mind you my beat friend said "Who?" When I mentioned Albert Einstein one day. Never heard of him apparently

He sounds uneducated and ignorant.

He probably has heard of her but the name didn't instantly click in his head.
Like a PP I was never taught about WW2 at school (80/90s school days). Reading the diary was more of a female thing to do - the books official title is Diary of a Young Girl after all so a lot of blokes probably haven't actually read it.

I mean, even Justin Beiber knows who Anne Frank is

Honestly there are thousands of others just as worthy or significant as Anne Frank (and I'm not just referring to the holocaust or WW2, I mean all over the globe and throughout history), the vast majority of which we'll never hear of. It just happens to be Anne Frank who has made a larger impression on certain sections of the western psyche.

The history taught in schools, which for most people will be the main part of their historical education, doesn't even cover a fraction of a percent of human history.

I'm sure there are many things your DH knows which you don't, and vice versa. Surely the answer is to educate each other rather than ridicule him.

Well - DH is early 50s but even so, surely he would have heard of her??

What? How could he not have?
I am late 50's & it has never occurred to me that people around my age group would not have heard of her. It's kind of like not knowing what Auschwitz represented ... did he miss a lot of school, or was he educated outside of europe?

bookmum let's not blame his complete and utter ignorance on the fact he's male.
It's insulting

Of course..99.9% would have heard of her. Anyone who hasnt lives under a dark rock. Yanbu....her story the reason i did history. Saying that her house upset me as not as the book...it felt vvv profit making and pushing you around. I read annes diary as my first book as a dyslexic and felt she was my friend. Thats one thing i like seeing in germany the little plaque outside a building saying where the person gone in ww2...wish there no need for the plagues but like the fact that that persons life is recognised.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit don't ask me! I was mortified and quickly taught him the names of all Beatles members!

At Primary school we learnt about Saxons, Tudors and Vikings etc. Nothing more contemporary than Victorians. We learnt history by copying from a text book.

Secondary school- can't remember what we learnt. But WW2 definitely not mentioned!

I did learn Latin and Ancient Greek though.

@PositiveVibez there will be billions of adults in the world who have never heard of Anne Frank.

Really surprised he’s early 50s and not heard. I’m 49 and read it ages 13 or so. My DC are teens and know. Eldest 19 and went to Amsterdam last year and top of her list was Anne Frank’s house. Has he lived in a cupboard?