RSS
Tickets Sold Out Through March for First Full-Scale Replica of Anne Frank’s Hidden Annex in NYC
Inside “Anne Frank The Exhibition” in New York City. Photo: John Halpern
The first full-scale recreation of the secret annex where Anne Frank hid for two years from Nazis occupying The Netherlands during World War II opened for its world premiere in New York City a week ago to such success that tickets are sold out for two months, organizers told The Algemeiner on Monday.
“We’ve been sold out every day and we are now sold out through March, which is wonderful,” said Michael Glickman, who is the New York representative for the Anne Frank House and the former director of the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive [from] both adults, students, and everyone in between.” He added that the exhibit has already had more than 10,000 visitors in just its first week.
“Anne Frank The Exhibition” is being hosted at the Center for Jewish History, which houses the world’s largest Jewish archive outside of Israel, and is a collaboration with the Anne Frank House museum in Amsterdam. It opened on International Holocaust Remembrance Day last Monday and is scheduled to close on April 30.
The first of its kind, the recreation of the annex is meant to be a limited release exhibit that will travel to other cities in the country, Glickman said. The immersive exhibit also marks the first time that the annex has been completely recreated outside of Amsterdam, and the first time that dozens of artifacts will be seen in the United States — many of which have never been displayed publicly.
Thirteen-year-old Frank, her parents, older sister, and four other Jews hid in the annex to evade Nazi capture in Amsterdam starting in 1942 until they were discovered and arrested in 1944. The annex is also where Frank penned her famous Holocaust diary while hiding in rooms located in the back house of her father’s company in Amsterdam. When Frank and the others were arrested in 1944, she was first transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and then with her sister they were sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, where they both died of typhus in February 1945. Frank was 15 and her sister was 18 or 19.
The Anne Frank House assembled a team of fabricators, designers, and builders to reconstruct in New York City the five rooms where Frank, her family, and others lived in hiding during the Holocaust. The rooms are filled with furniture and personal possessions, including Frank’s first photo album from 1929-1942; her typed and handwritten invitation to her friend for a film screening in her home; and poetry handwritten by Frank in her friends’ poetry albums. Also on display is the Oscar won by Shelley Winters for the 1959 film “The Diary of Anne Frank.”
The exhibit spans more than 7,500 square feet and features over 100 original artifacts from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. A large chunk of the reconstructed annex was made in The Netherlands and shipped over to New York City on freight liners, according to Glickman. “This exhibit came together in record time,” he added. “I’ve been doing these sort of things for a very long time in my career [and] I’ve never seen anything happen as fast. From start to finish, this was a 10-month process.”
Frank’s father, Otto Frank, has a personal connection to New York. He worked in New York City from 1909-1911, before he met and married his wife, Edith. Otto’s roommate at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Nathan Straus, Jr., invited him to come to New York and work at his family’s department store, Macy’s. Otto worked for about six months as an intern at Macy’s and afterwards worked as an intern at a bank until he left New York in the spring of 1911. The former university roommates maintained contact after Otto returned to Europe.
Years later, Nathan tried to help Otto and his family secure visas to the United States to escape Nazi-occupied Europe, but was unsuccessful. Otto was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. After World War II, when he returned to Amsterdam, his former assistant, Miep Gies, gave him Anne’s diary. She had retrieved it from the annex after the Frank family was arrested, hoping to give it to Anne one day. Otto published his daughter’s diary — Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl — first in Dutch, German, and French, and it has since become one of the most translated books in the world. Otto died in 1980 at the age of 91.
The Anne Frank House, an independent nonprofit organization, was established in 1957, in cooperation with Otto. For nearly seven decades, it has preserved the annex where the Frank family hid during World War II.
“Anne’s legacy is remarkable, as represented in the diary she left us, and as one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered at the hands of Nazi officials and their collaborators,” Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House, said in a released statement. “Through this exhibition, the Anne Frank House offers insights into how this could have happened and what it means for us today. The exhibition provides perspectives, geared toward younger generations, that are certain to deepen our collective understanding of Anne Frank and hopefully provide a better understanding of ourselves.”
“By bringing this exhibition to New York — a place with many ties to Anne’s story— the Anne Frank House is expanding the reach of our work to encourage more people to remember Anne Frank, reflect on her life story, and respond by standing against antisemitism and hatred in their own communities,” he added.
“In a time of rising antisemitism, her diary serves as both a warning and a call to action, reminding us of the devastating impact of hatred,” said Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History. “This exhibition challenges us to confront these dangers head-on and honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust.”
The post Tickets Sold Out Through March for First Full-Scale Replica of Anne Frank’s Hidden Annex in NYC first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Anti-Israel Singer Kehlani’s NYC Concert Gets Cancelled After Mayor Faces Pressure
Kehlani walking on the red carpet during the 67th Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 2, 2025. Photo: Elyse Jankowski/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
An upcoming New York City concert featuring Israel-hating, American singer Kehlani was canceled late Monday after organizers faced mounting pressure from New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The webpage for the “Pride With Kehlani” benefit concert has also removed from the website of the City Parks Foundation. The privately-funded non-profit organization was hosting the performance, set for June 26 in Central Park, as part of its SummerStage festival series and in celebration of June being Pride Month. The concert was being produced and presented by Live Nation, which reportedly selected Kehlani for the performance.
SummerStage released a statement on Monday explaining its decision to call off Kehlani’s performance. According to the statement, the mayor’s office contacted concert organizers and expressed concerns about “safety and security issues” at the event, especially in light of Cornell University’s recent decision to cancel a performance by Kehlani, “as well as security demands in Central Park and throughout the City for other Pride events during that same time period.”
“We strongly and emphatically believe in artistic expression of all kinds. However, the safety and security of our guests and artists is the utmost importance and in light of these concerns, the concert has been cancelled,” SummerStage said. “SummerStage is proud to be a platform for artists from around the world to perform and make arts accessible for all New Yorkers in their neighborhood parks. While artists may choose to express their own opinions, their views may not necessarily be representative of the festival. SummerStage events are intended to bring together all sectors of the New York City community and we look forward to welcoming more guests throughout the summer.”
Mayor Adams’ administration also threatened to pull the licenses for all SummerStage shows if Kehlani’s concert was not canceled, according to a letter sent to the City Parks Foundation that was obtained by New York Post.
Kehlani released a music video last year that opens with the message “Long live the Intifada,” a phrase that incites violence against Israel and the Jewish community. She has attended pro-Palestinian rallies, accused Israel of genocide, and shared numerous anti-Israel and anti-Zionist posts on social media. In one Instagram post, she wrote: “Dismantle Israel. Eradicate Zionism.” She also shared on social media a post that called for Israel to be removed off the map and replaced with “Palestine.” Kehlani recently claimed that she is not antisemitic.
“I am not antisemitic, nor anti-Jew. I am anti-genocide. I am anti-the-actions-of-the-Israeli-government,” she stated in a video posted on Instagram and TikTok.
Congressman Ritchie Torres, who pushed Mayor Adams to take action and have Kehlani’s Central Park concert canceled, applauded the move by SummerStage to call off the show. “Antisemitism becomes unacceptable only when we, as a society, have the courage to reject it—clearly, consistently, and without compromise,” he wrote on X.
SummerStage is the city’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival. It presents more than 80 free and benefit concerts each summer.
Kehlani has not publicly responded to the cancellation of her New York City concert.
The post Anti-Israel Singer Kehlani’s NYC Concert Gets Cancelled After Mayor Faces Pressure first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
New Study Exposes Antisemitism in University Medical Centers
Illustrative Pro-Hamas protesters in Washington, DC, USA, on April 5, 2025. Photo: Robyn Stevens Brody/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect.
Antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish healthcare professionals of their civil right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate, according to a new study by the StandWithUs Data & Analytics Department.
“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author, Alexandra Fishman said on Monday in a press release. “Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”
Titled “Antisemitism in American Healthcare: The Role of Workplace Environment,” the study includes survey data showing that 62.8 percent of Jewish healthcare professionals employed by campus-based medical center reported experiencing antisemitism, a far higher rate than those working in private practice and community hospitals. Fueling the rise in hate, it added, were repeated failures of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives to educate workers about antisemitism, increasing, the report said, the likelihood of antisemitic activity.
“When administrators and colleagues understand what antisemitism looks like, it clearly correlates with less antisemitism in the workplace,” co-author and Yeshiva University professor Dr. Charles Auerbach said. “Recognition is a powerful tool — institutions that foster awareness create safer, more inclusive environments for everyone.”
Monday’s study is not StandWithUs first contribution to the study of antisemitism in medicine. In December, its Data & Analytics Department published a study which found that nearly 40 percent of Jewish American health-care professionals have encountered antisemitism in the workplace, either as witnesses or victims.
The study included a survey of 645 Jewish health workers, a substantial number of whom said they were subject to “social and professional isolation.” The problem left over one quarter of the survey cohort, 26.4 percent, “feeling unsafe or threatened.”
In some schools, Jewish faculty are speaking out.
In February, the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group (JFrg) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) accused the institution in an open letter of “ignoring” antisemitism at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSOM),” charing that its indifference to the matter “continues to encourage more antisemitism.” JFrg added that discrimination at the Geffen medical school has caused demonstrable harm to Jewish students and faculty. Student clubs, it said, are denied recognition for arbitrary reasons; Jewish faculty whose ethnic backgrounds were previously unknown are purged from the payrolls upon being identified as Jews; and anyone who refuses to participate in anti-Zionist events is “intimidated” and pressured.
“DGSOM’s continued silence in the face of a sustained and deeply troubling rise in antisemitism within its own institution is not just complicity — it is a failure of responsibility,” the group said. “Without strong and principled leadership, this dangerous pattern will persist.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New Study Exposes Antisemitism in University Medical Centers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Dozens of Former Eurovision Contestants Pressure Organizers to Ban Israel From 2025 Song Contest
Israel’s representative to the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, Yuval Raphael, holds an Israeli flag in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo: “The Rising Star,” Channel Keshet 12/Handout via REUTERS
More than 70 previous contestants of the Eurovision Song Contest on Monday demanded that Israel’s public broadcaster Kan should be banned from the international competition this year because of what they falsely claim is Israel’s “genocide” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Singers, songwriters, musicians, lyricists and others from across Europe signed an open letter, published by Artists for Palestine UK, that was addressed to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest. In their letter, the anti-Israel creatives urged the EBU to ban Kan, claiming that it is “complicit in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the decades-long regime of apartheid and military occupation against the entire Palestinian people.”
“We believe in the unifying power of music, which is why we refuse to allow music to be used as a tool to whitewash crimes against humanity,” the open letter stated. The signatories urged EBU to “act now and prevent further discredit and disruption to the festival.”
“Silence is not an option,” they added. “We therefore join together to state that the EBU’s complicity with Israel’s genocide must stop. By continuing to platform the representation of the Israeli state, the EBU is normalizing and whitewashing its crimes … Israel must be excluded from Eurovision.”
The former Eurovision contestants also said that they were “appalled” by the EBU’s decision last year to include Kan in the competition during the Israel-Hamas war.
“The result was disastrous,” they said about the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest. “Rather than acknowledging the widespread criticism and reflecting on its own failures, the EBU responded by doubling down — granting total impunity to the Israeli delegation while repressing other artists and delegations, making the 2024 edition the most politicized, chaotic and unpleasant in the competition’s history.”
During last year’s competition, Israeli singer Eden Golan was booed on stage by anti-Israel audience members, faced death threats, had a anti-Israel Eurovision jury member refuse to give her points, and was forced to conceal her identity outside of the competition for her own safety.
Those who signed Monday’s open letter also accused the EBU of a “double standard” in regards to Israel. They criticized the EBU for expelling Russia’s public broadcaster from the competition in 2022, because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that year, but still allowing Israel to participate in the song contest amid the Israel-Hamas war that started after the deadly Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
“[It] can’t be one rule for Russia and a completely different rule for Israel. You bomb, you’re out,” said former Eurovision contestant Thea Garrett, who represented Malta in 2010.
“I believe that the Israeli government has been and is inflicting genocide on the people of Palestine and for that reason Israel should be barred from competing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest,” added Charlie McGettigan, who won the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland.
The open letter was signed by creatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, France, Iceland, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The national broadcasters in Iceland, Slovenia and Spain have previously expressed opposition to Israel’s participation in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
The open letter was published the same day that Israel’s Eurovision representative this year, singer Yuval Raphael, traveled to Basel, Switzerland, to compete in the song contest. Raphael, who is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, will compete in the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “New Day Will Rise,” a ballad written by singer and songwriter Keren Peles. She will perform in the second semi-final on May 15 and, if she advances, will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest grand final on May 17.
The post Dozens of Former Eurovision Contestants Pressure Organizers to Ban Israel From 2025 Song Contest first appeared on Algemeiner.com.