An artwork featuring Anne Frank wearing a red-and-white keffiyeh is drawing sharp condemnation from Israeli officials and Jewish groups, who say the piece equates Israel with Nazi Germany and desecrates Holocaust memory.
The painting by Italian artist Constantino Ciervo is part of an exhibition titled “Commune – The Paradox of Imagination in the Middle East Conflict” at the Fluxus+ Museum in Potsdam. It reimagines the well-known photo of Frank writing at her desk, replacing her clothing with the traditional Palestinian scarf, commonly seen as a political symbol.
The Israeli Embassy in Germany denounced the piece as “a prime example of a growing artistic trend: behind the mask of artistic freedom lies a normalization of historical distortion, antisemitism and, ultimately, terrorism.” It accused Ciervo of attempting to portray Jews as “modern Nazis.”
The embassy, along with other Jewish organizations, called for the work’s immediate removal. Ciervo and museum director Tamás Blaneschy refused, insisting the piece is a legitimate form of political criticism targeting Israeli policy, not Jews or the Holocaust.
“This work is about Israeli actions, not Judaism,” Ciervo said in a video posted to social media, denying antisemitic intent. “I strongly reject the accusations against me.”
Blaneschy also defended the piece, saying, “There is no place, there has never been a place, and there never will be a place for antisemitism in our institution.”
Israeli-German Friendship Association chairman Volker Beck filed a formal police complaint against the exhibition’s curators, arguing the work trivializes Holocaust suffering and violates Germany’s obligation to preserve Holocaust memory. “It suggests Israel is doing to Palestinians what the Nazis did to Anne Frank,” Beck said. “Even if the artist is protected by freedom of expression, curators have a duty to prevent attacks on the dignity and memory of Jewish victims.”