Some Florida Schools Ban 'The Diary of Anne Frank' Over “Pornographic” Material

The state of Florida can’t seem to shake the scrutiny it’s been under for some time, both for its public school reforms and controversial measures being taken to detain and house undocumented immigrants. Florida has not only enacted the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prohibits instruction or discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in certain grades, but it has also been steadily expanding its list of banned books each year.

One title reportedly removed from some school shelves is The Diary of Anne Frank, according to The Guardian. Apparently, the Florida State Board of Education is pressuring schools to remove any titles deemed “pornographic.” But The Diary of Anne Frank is hardly what anyone would consider a “pornographic” book. So why is it being removed from Florida schools? Well, it’s probably because of this.

The Diary of Anne Frank is the personal journal of a young Jewish girl named Anne Frank who documented her thoughts after going into hiding during WWII to escape Nazi persecution. It chronicles her life over the two years she and her family stayed hidden behind a bookshelf in a secret annex, while the Nazis rounded up and deported Jews to concentration camps, many of whom did not survive.

It’s real, raw, and eye-opening, detailing the struggles and challenges Anne and her family faced, and most of all, it’s humbling and informative. But it seems all of this is being overlooked as The Diary of Anne Frank is now being deemed one of the “banned” books in Florida schools.

Reportedly, Hillsborough County was told by the State Board of Education to remove more than 600 titles deemed “pornographic” and was even threatened with formal legal action if its schools didn’t comply. The Diary of Anne Frank and What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold were two of those titles. Advocates now fear that other Florida schools may follow suit out of fear.

So what’s so bad about The Diary of Anne Frank, especially considering The Guardian reports there were no known complaints about it being used for instructional purposes? It would appear that the issue stems from the unabridged version, known as the Definitive Edition, published in 1995. This edition includes material about Anne’s “burgeoning sexuality” and reflections on her physical development, as well as some of the conflicts she had with her mother.

These passages were originally cut from the version published in 1947 (the English edition came out in 1952) by Anne’s father, Otto Frank, who chose to leave them out. But the Definitive Edition contains more “explicit” information that may exceed what some school districts, at least in Florida, consider appropriate for instruction.

For example, one passage reportedly includes Anne candidly reflecting on her own body, writing, "There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!"

It’s not entirely clear which version of The Diary of Anne Frank is being “banned” in Florida, or if the State Board of Education is simply lumping all editions together and demanding their removal from schools. But it's worth noting that not all schools use the unabridged version, though some do.

Back in 2013, a mother of a 7th grader in Michigan complained about material in the unabridged edition, according to The Guardian, and perhaps Florida is now realizing that one version is a bit more explicit than the others.

Still, to ban all versions of The Diary of Anne Frank from all schools seems like a stretch, given that it’s both informative and an important reminder of a dark, oppressive time in history.