President Milanović for Reinstating “The Diary of Anne Frank” as Required School Reading

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received today representatives of the Centre for the Promotion of Tolerance and Holocaust Remembrance, its director Nataša Popović and secretary Antonija Tomičić, who acquainted him with the objectives of the Centre’s activity as well as the initiatives launched by the Centre.

One of the initiatives discussed was to reinstate “The Diary of Anne Frank” as required eighth grade primary school reading since it was removed from the list of required reading in 2019 without explanation. The Centre launched this initiative in conjunction with VeDRA Association of Split. The Centre’s director explained that the initiative has also been sent to the Prime Minister, the ministries of Science and Education, the Interior, and Foreign Affairs as well as to the Agency for Education, but no acknowledgement or response has so far been received from any government institution.

President Milanović supports the initiative. “You have my support for the initiative to have ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ reinstated as required school reading in the eighth grade of primary school. There is no reason not to do it,” said the President at the meeting.

Furthermore, director Popović told President Milanović that to this day the decision of the City of Zagreb to allocate premises in the former building of the “Prva hrvatska tvornica ulja d.d.” to the Centre has not been implemented even though the premises were already given to the Centre to manage in 2017. Popović said that the Centre still does not have adequate premises to carry out its programmes.

The Centre for the Promotion of Tolerance and Holocaust Remembrance is a non-profit cultural institution established as a civil-public partnership bringing together institutions, non-profit organizations and the civil sector. The Centre’s mission is to develop a platform in order to stimulate a more tolerant and humane social environment by nurturing inclusion, humanism, openness and diversity. They stated that in five years, the Centre has carried out numerous projects, including the installation of 61 Stolpersteine for the Jewish, Roma and Croatian victims of the Ustasha regime, a production of the children’s opera “Brundibár”, and a Tolerance Park.

Alongside President Milanović at the meeting were the Adviser to the President for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić, the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković and the Special Adviser to the President for Culture Zdravko Zima.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Ana Marija Katić