“Anne & Frank” Amsterdam Bakery Changes Its Name After Sparking Outcry

Tourists line up in front of the Anne Frank House. Image by Getty
The unfortunately named and recently opened “Anne & Frank” Bakery has elected to change its name after an outcry on Twitter deemed it insensitive. The bakery is located around the corner from the Anne Frank House, which has become a popular tourist attraction. The media backlash was immediate, as Twitter lambasted owner Robert Barsoum for his choice to name his bakery after the famous Holocaust victim who died in Bergen Belsen.
“It seemed like a nice name to me,” Barosum told the local AT5 television station, adding that Anne Frank was “a hero to me too.”
This isn’t the first time people have used Anne Frank’s name for their own purposes. In 2013, popstar Justin Bieber said he hoped Anne Frank “would have been a Belieber.” A German railway company recently axed plans to name a train after Anne Frank.. She even has an asteroid named after her, the 5535 Annefrank.
According to social media, Barsoum has since removed the words Anne & Frank from the front window of the bakery.
Onder de Westertoren om de hoek van dat Achterhuis open je winkel vermomd als bakkerij en dan denk je even, heel even maar, na over de naam….. wtf .. (en ze kan er ook zweet krijgen). pic.twitter.com/Gk5bDUqDVU
— Ingrid Kerr (@ingridkerr) August 25, 2018
Shira Feder is a writer. She’s at [email protected] and @shirafeder
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.
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.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Fast Forward Columbia staff receive texts asking if they’re Jewish, as government hunts antisemitic harassment on campus
In Case You Missed It
-
News These are the most influential Jews in Trump’s first 100 days
-
Fast Forward Nike apologizes for marathon ad using the Holocaust phrase ‘Never Again’
-
Opinion I wrote the book on Hitler’s first 100 days. Here’s how Trump’s compare
-
Fast Forward Ohio Applebee’s defaced with antisemitic graffiti reading ‘Jews work here’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.