Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters onstage in Berlin in 2013. He’s performed for years in the costume with the red armband resembling a Nazi uniform. Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

By Beth Harpaz June 9, 2023

A London-based organization that uses Anne Frank’s life to challenge prejudice scolded former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters for juxtaposing Frank’s name with Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s during a concert in Germany. 

The Anne Frank Trust quoted the first line of Pink Floyd’s anti-fascist anthem “The Wall” in a tweet, saying: “‘We don’t need no education,’ but clearly Roger Waters needs educating about prejudice and antisemitism. It is wildly inappropriate to misuse Anne Frank’s legacy. Here at the Anne Frank Trust, our young people learn from Anne Frank and the Holocaust, empowering them to challenge prejudice. We invite Roger to meet with us and do the same.”

Our statement on Roger Waters pic.twitter.com/VNVRGwafG8

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— Anne Frank Trust (@AnneFrankTrust) June 8, 2023

Concertgoers who saw Waters perform in Berlin in May tweeted photos of Abu Akleh and Frank’s names being projected onto large screens. Under Abu Akleh’s name, the location of her death was listed as “Jenin, Palestine,” her crime as “Being Palestinian” and sentence as “death.” Under Frank’s name, the location of her death was listed as the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp while her crime was listed as “Being Jewish” and the sentence also death.  

Rogers has defended the concert act, saying on social media that it is “quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms.” 

Abu Akleh was killed while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank last year.  Various investigations concluded that she was shot by a member of the Israel Defense Forces but Israeli authorities deny that she was intentionally targeted. 

Frank is the Holocaust’s most famous victim. Her story is widely known thanks to the posthumous publication of her diary describing her family’s years in hiding during World War II. She was deported in 1944 to Auschwitz after a raid on the secret annex in Amsterdam where they were hiding. She died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen at age 15. 

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount