'Woke' culture is trying to steal Anne Frank.

This story reveals the mindset of many Westerners (including some Western Jews) steeped in the self-righteous, virtue-signaling posture of today’s deranged “woke” culture.

photo: Ronni Kurtz/Unsplash

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This is a guest essay by Tzlil Berko, an Israeli entrepreneur and writer.

You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, and Spotify.

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It was Yom Kippur, less than a month before the October 7th massacre, and I was invited to a ceremony attended by about 200 Reform Jews, some of them from the film and television industry. To each his own, and I respect any stream of Judaism that is rooted in Jewish values and Zionism.

On Yom Kippur Eve, there were prayers conducted in a style different from what we are used to here in Israel — different, yet nice and interesting. And on Yom Kippur itself, they screened a film about two girls auditioning for the role of Anne Frank: One was a European-looking Jewish girl, the other an African American girl.

At the end of the film, they turned the question to us, the audience, asking if we were for or against casting a Black actress as Anne Frank, but not before bringing out a famous Jewish actor (no need to say who) to share his foolish opinion that indeed any actor should have equal opportunities to play any role in the entire world.

From that moment, the microphone passed from person to person, and most who spoke agreed with him that it was right to allow a Black actress to play Anne Frank — who was neither Black nor African, but a 15-year-old European Jewish girl living in the Netherlands. Even those who disagreed framed their opposition in terms of “a wrong creative choice” or “historical inaccuracy,” and not a single word about the offense to the memory of the Holocaust. Honestly, I was horrified. Words were thrown around like “in the name of universalism we must…”; “in the name of humanism we should allow…”; plenty of “isms” and lunacy.

If you know me, you know I cannot stay quiet when something rattles me. I speak out, often bluntly, and that day was no different. The Yom Kippur fast had dulled my sharpness, and English is not my mother tongue, which makes it even harder to express emotions with precision. But I took the microphone anyway; better broken English than broken silence when truth is on the line.

After introducing myself with a smile, greeting them Gmar Chatima Tova¹ in a perfect Hebrew accent, and apologized in advance that I was not going to be “politically correct” because I am Israeli.

I asked them if they had lost their minds.

“These heinous crimes were committed against our people, against the Jews,” I declared passionately, “and not against humanity as a whole! So why do you want to take this away from us?! Not one word did you say about Judaism! Anne Frank and the six million Jews who were slaughtered, including almost all of my father’s family (among them my grandfather’s 4-year-old little sister) were murdered in cold blood only because they were Jews. JEWS!”

I went on to speak about this disgusting cultural appropriation, though in my hunger from the Yom Kippur fast I actually forgot the very word “appropriation.” A kind woman in the row nearby completed the sentence for me, sensing my pain as I stood there fighting to protect what I felt was slowly being taken from us: our sense of survival, our Jewish identity, and our integrity toward the endless Jewish victims of the Holocaust — all under the same “progressive” spirit in which political correctness has become a dangerous black hole that pulls in and traps the truth.

The only way out is recognition: seeing that the very essence of political correctness is to place you deliberately in darkness, and choosing to turn on the light by refusing to surrender to its synthetic justice and limbo dogma. But let’s be honest: Jews are the only people for whom no “PC rules” apply. Anything is permitted when it comes to the Jews, isn’t it?

Casting Anne Frank as anything other than a girl of European Jewish appearance is not only an assault on truth; it is an assault on the Holocaust itself and on the sacred memory of its victims. It does not mean the actress herself must be Jewish, but she must look the part, externally, in order to honor Anne’s real identity. To do otherwise is a deliberate attempt to universalize the Holocaust, to strip it of its unique Jewish history, and to erase the merciless persecution and systematic annihilation of Jews in Europe under Nazi Germany.

This is not art; it is desecration. To distort Anne Frank’s identity is to falsify history, deface her memory, and strike at the very heart of the Jewish People.

Surprisingly, most of the audience applauded in agreement with me. The very same people who, only moments earlier, acted as though it made no difference who played Anne Frank, were now clapping with conviction, as if to show me that my words had struck a nerve and that, at least for that moment, they were with me.

And yet, of all those who took the microphone, myself included, it was actually the words of a famous Black actress, who is not Jewish but attended the Yom Kippur ceremony, that were the most impressive and rightful.

She spoke with charisma and fire, saying that just as she would never accept white actors playing slaves in a film about slavery, it was both outrageous and utterly illogical for a Black actress to play Anne Frank. She ended with a simple truth: “There are enough other roles.”

To my delight, the overwhelming majority rose to their feet in applause. She truly deserved every clap, not only for her brilliance but for having the courage to speak truth where so many others hid behind the comfort of trendy, distorted righteousness.

When I came back to Israel, I discussed this with my friend Daniel Pomerantz, former CEO of HonestReporting. Daniel also writes about Israel and Jewish issues, and he expressed exactly what I had been feeling in these words:

“I wouldn’t dream of casting a white actor as Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks, because it would be both horribly disrespectful and terribly hurtful to the Black community. The Jewish community is no less deserving of the very same respect: for our own history and for our unique pain.”

It is important to note that Jews come from many backgrounds and with many different complexions; this is neither an issue of race nor complexion, but a question of truth, historical fidelity, and the dignity of Holocaust memory.

In any case, this story reveals the mindset of many Westerners — including some Western Jews — steeped in the self-righteous, virtue-signaling posture of today’s deranged “woke” culture. A culture that is, ironically, the very opposite of true awakening.

This brand of progressivism is already wreaking havoc in universities and schools across the U.S. and throughout the Western world, infiltrating academia, culture, politics, and virtually every sphere of influence. Countless vital institutions, many of them Qatar-funded, now function as propaganda hubs that poison the West’s youth and future leaders. And instead of blocking foreign money from anti-Western regimes, governments are adding state funds that only multiply their power. The consequences are already surging toward the shores of the free world like a tsunami.

Those who embrace this extreme “woke” ideology struggle to distinguish good from evil, or to name evil for what it is, paralyzed by the fear of being branded “racist” or “Islamophobic.” They place their reputation and their wallets above doing what is right, choosing silence even as Jewish babies are burned alive by devilish Palestinian terrorists. In that silence they become complicit.

Worse still, some go further, openly aligning with jihadists for likes, social credit, or coveted new roles, blind to the reality that they too are prey for the very savages they excuse — no less than the Jews they betray.

In truth, Jews are only the trailer to the horror movie that these Islamists are preparing for the free world. Yet if it serves self-interest now, why not applaud those who call rape “resistance,” right? Hating Israel is fashionable — literally, someone recently walked into a Los Angeles coffee shop with a shirt that said, “Israel kills children” — so make sure you stay on trend, even if the price is nothing less than your soul.

Progressive self-proclaimed “good Samaritans” are in fact drifting away from morality, dwelling in the poisonous game of identity politics and willfully inhabiting an upside-down Orwellian universe of ignorant bliss. Follow that mechanism to its natural end, and it places them not with the Allies who fought evil, but with Nazi Germany itself.

That is why Anne Frank must not be reduced to a prize in the casino of identity politics. She was a Jewish girl, murdered for that fact alone. She is not yours to appropriate in games of moral theater, nor does she belong to those who rewrite history to suit their agendas. She is Jewish, and she will always remain Jewish. Her memory is etched into our collective Jewish soul — a reminder of why she was hunted, and of the cost of forgetting.

Through her, we Jews remember why we must fight for our survival. Through her, the six million will forever speak.

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1. A Hebrew greeting, meaning “May you be sealed in a good final sealing,” traditionally wish during the High Holy Days leading up to Yom Kippur