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

A passage of "The Diary of Anne Frank" was also read before soccer games in Italy following a similar sitation last week.

By JTA

OCTOBER 31, 2017 15:33

Lazio players wear shirts with a picture of Anne Frank before their Serie A soccer match against Bologna at the Dall'Ara stadium in Bologna, Italy. (photo credit: REUTERS/ALBERTO LINGRIA) — Lazio players wear shirts with a picture of Anne Frank before their Serie A soccer match against Bologna at the Dall'Ara stadium in Bologna, Italy.

(photo credit: REUTERS/ALBERTO LINGRIA)

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 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.

Stickers, allegedly from #BVB hooligan circles, have emerged in #Düsseldorf depicting Anne Frank in a #Schalke shirt. [via @ruhrbarone] pic.twitter.com/Q7m9LHT9aW
— Matt Ford (@matt_4d) October 30, 2017

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

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.