In a move that has outraged patients and community members, the Anne Frank memorial locker at the University of Chicago Medical Center’s River East campus was quietly removed by a radiology supervisor in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre—the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. What had been a poignant tribute to a young Jewish girl murdered by the Nazis has simply… disappeared.
The locker, part of a global initiative to honor Anne Frank’s legacy and remind visitors of the perils of hatred, was unbolted and carted away days after Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered over 1,200 Israelis, including children and seniors, and took hostages. When confronted, staff allegedly admitted the removal was intentional.
Let that sink in: at a moment when Jews worldwide were reeling from brutal attacks, a major medical institution decided the Anne Frank Memorial was “too political,” “too divisive,” or perhaps “too inconvenient” to maintain.
Anne Frank’s diary has long stood as a universal symbol of Jewish suffering and the human cost of bigotry. Its removal now sends a deafening message of indifference—if not outright hostility—to Jewish pain. In silencing her memory, UChicago Med has undercut the very values of empathy and remembrance that a hospital should embody.
Patients who once found solace in the locker’s presence are left bewildered. “I come here for treatment, not to feel like my identity is unwelcome,” said one patient. “Taking down Anne Frank’s locker when Jews are under attack again—it’s not subtle. It’s a statement. And we heard it loud and clear.”
Community leaders are demanding answers. How does UChicago Med justify erasing a Holocaust memorial precisely when the global Jewish community is mourning fresh atrocities? What criteria deem remembrance “too divisive”?
Until UChicago Med restores the Anne Frank Memorial and offers a full explanation, its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion will ring hollow. In removing Anne Frank, they have removed a vital reminder of why we must never look away from hatred—especially when its victims are under fire once more.