Is my Jewish three-year-old too young to learn about antisemitism? | Hilary Freeman

I stand by my decision to read my daughter a children’s version of the Anne Frank story, but some of my friends have objected

My three-year-old daughter, Sidonie, stared for a moment at the illustration in the storybook I was reading her at bedtime. “Can I wear a yellow star too please, Mummy?” she asked, her innocent question betraying her lack of understanding. I laughed, uncomfortably. To her, the identifying mark forced on European Jews by the Nazis was nothing more than a fashion choice. She wanted “Twinkle twinkle little star” on her clothes because it looked pretty.

Like me, Sidonie is Jewish. The book I was reading her, an illustrated biography of Anne Frank for young children, forms part of a series titled “Little People, Big Dreams”, which introduces young children to notable women in history. She had already enjoyed similar books about Frida Kahlo and Maya Angelou and I bought her the one about Anne Frank because, of all the subjects profiled, it most resonated with me. As a child who loved writing, I identified with Anne Frank. And my grandmother – Sidonie’s great-grandmother – was, like Anne, a little girl in prewar Germany. Unlike Anne, she and my grandfather had the good fortune to escape to England, not to the soon-to-be-occupied Netherlands.

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