To wear or not to wear the Star of David - Anne Frank world book day

[LC01]

Hello, my daughter has been asked to dress up as a strong female character from a book. We recently went to Amsterdam and visited the Anne Frank museum, so we decided that Anne would be a good choice. I have the costume, but I've noticed that some images online have a child wearing the yellow Star of David badge.

We this be seen as being racists? As we're not as a family and I don't want anyone to take offence, especially as my daughter's school is very multi-cultural.

I really don't think the whole thing is appropriate.

I'm Jewish and my grandmother was a holocaust survivor.

Please don't. It's a horrific idea. I can't even begin to express how upsetting my grandmother would have found it and I would find it incredibly difficult if I saw it at a school.

I am all for remembering, but some symbols really shouldn't be dress up for children. Sorry. Can't articulate this properly. Slightly overwhelmed. I think it could go really wrong.

The star is definitely inappropriate, and the costume in general questionable at best.

Inappropriate to dress as Anne Frank. She's not a character and not fiction.

As others have said - Anne Frank isn't a character. It's really not appropriate for a child to dress up as her.

Re the question, 'Should I or shouldn't I add the yellow star', this might give a bit of context to the choices available to Jews.

prezi.com/_f76vyjfe4_c/the-holocaust-what-would-happen-if-jews-didnt-wear-their-s/

Please don't send her to school dressed as Anne Frank! It's horribly disrespectful.

Yellow Stars

Every year, they blossom again, punctually.
A creeping weed that is called moneywort,
and the tiny one, I think, wall-pepper.
So much that is yellow and will soon be gone.
Of those which keep their distance from us,
far out in cold space, it is said that they flare up
and burn out like birthday sparklers.
Some stars, when the wind dies down,
hang from flagpoles, limply. Another one
arose, long ago, in the Gospels.

When I was a child, there were stars,
thin and crumpled on grey, worn overcoats.
Someone must have sewed them on.
It wasn’t my great-aunt Theresia who did it.
Other aunts, longsighted, thread in mouth,
bent over the eye of the needle.
So many stars. Don’t speak of them.
But they were yellow, yellow.
And then they vanished forever.

Written and translated by
Hans Magnus Enzensberger

No to wearing a Star of David and no to dressing up as Anne Frank.

If you want a strong wartime fictional book character, how about Anna from when Hitler stole pink rabbit or Ruth from the silver sword?

No, i wouldn't.
If you were looking for alternatives what about Jo March from Little Women?

I doubt whether Anne Frank wore a star when she was in hiding anyway - why would she? I would choose another costume though.

"A strong female character"

It doesn't look like OP is coming back, but if you are, I'm adding my voice to the this is incredibly distasteful view. Anne Frank was a real person, she was a child who was murdered, in what way is it a "good choice" to "dress up" as her?!

It's really bad and I'm surprised anyone would think this was appropriate in any way.

Please don't.
WBD is about dressing your dc as characters from fictional books.
Sending your dd in dressed as Anne Frank is beyond distasteful.

As a Jew, I find the idea of dressing children as holocaust victims bizarre and offensive. Anne Frank isn't a character, she was a human being and a murder victim. Just choose someone else to play pretend as

Adding my voice to others here. Please don't. It's massively inappropriate and distasteful. Anne Frank was not a 'character' - she was a real child who was forced into hiding and then died in horrific conditions in a concentration camp. 'Dressing up' as her for fun is not ok.

As someone who has family that died in the Holocaust I also agree that it is an inappropriate 'costume' tbh.

It is important to remember Anne and the millions of others who were murdered but not like this. I'm sure you meant well but it really isn't appropriate.

This thread is so sad, well, no it's not, it's the story of Ann Frank that's so, so sad. I can't comment on the appropriateness of not of dressing as Ann Frank but to dress as her might just make everybody sad (and there is a time and place for this sadness) on what is supposed to be a fun day.

Folks, OP accidentally set up two threads for this and said on the second thread (after unanimous replies!) that she realised this was a bad idea. She's probably not replying to this thread because she's head deep in safety pins and papier mache on an alternative costume

Another one who thinks this is just completely inappropriate I'm afraid. I can see that your intentions are good, but there is so much potential for offense to be caused. You wouldn't send your daughter to school dressed up as a modern day murdered child (I don't even want to type any of their names because it's so disrespectful in this context). And some symbols - such as the star of David - simply should never be part of a game of dress up.

It's wonderful that your daughter has been so moved by Anne Frank's experience and writing, but this is not the way to pay tribute to her. It just trivialises her life and those of other Jewish people who died during the Holocaust. They are not characters in a book who should be aped by children in fancy dress. They were real people, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, who lived very sad and harrowing lives and died excruciating deaths in appalling conditions.

She should not 'dress up' as Anne Frank. What a terrible idea!

She needs to think of something else.