KEY POINTS

  • Website Halloweencostume.com has apologise for the costume.
  • "The Holocaust is not a joke!" Holocaust Educational Trust CEO says.
  • It's not the first time people thought dressing up as Anne Frank was a good idea.

A blue petticoat, green beret and yellow tights as a Halloween costume. Cute, right? What if it was sold under the name "Anne Frank" costume"?

This Holocaust-inspired outfit sparked outrage after users spotted it while scrolling through a costume retailer selection. Halloweencostume.com had no choice but to pull the offensive costume.

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One of the reasons behind the backlash was that it trivialised Anne Frank's legacy as a Holocaust victim.

Carlos Sage, regional director of the Anti Defamation League, tweeted: "There are better ways to commemorate Anne Frank. This is not one. We should not trivialise her memory as a costume."

Halloweencostumes.com apologised in a statement, although it pointed out that the costume was sold for "for many uses outside of the Halloween season, such as school projects and plays".

However many, including blogger Aussie Dave from the website Israeli Cool, pointed out that thew whole demeanour of the smiling little girl wearing the outfit "was not a good look either".

The costume has now been pulled from Halooweencostumes.com online shop Twitter/Daniel Arenson


Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, does not enjoy the costume idea either: "Why would anyone want to 'dress up' as Anne Frank, a young girl murdered by the Nazis, for Halloween? It is utterly inappropriate, offensive and quite simply beggars belief. The Holocaust is not a joke – this company needs to have a serious rethink," she says in a statement.

The depiction of Holocaust survivor through costume has been a delicate subject in recent years.

In 2016, the wife of Vladimir Putin's Press Secretary sparked her own controversy when she performed an ice-skating routine while wearing a concentration camp prisoner uniform, complete with a Yellow Star. Twitter users had dubbed the incident "tactless" and "disgusting".