Suspect arrested for Holocaust denial projection on Anne Frank House

A 41-year-old man was arrested in Poland last week for projecting a Holocaust denial message onto the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in February, according to multiple news outlets in San Diego. 

According to unconfirmed reports, the suspect is Robert Wilson, a US citizen and member of the antisemitic group Goyim Defense League, who fled to Europe after committing an attack against a gay neighbor. Wilson initially pled not guilty to the attack but did not appear in court. It was later discovered that his absence was due to him leaving the US for his home in Poland.

Dutch Police issued a statement saying that they identified the suspected individual soon after the projection was made, however, the suspect quickly left for Poland and the police have not published the individual's name.

The projection was illuminated across the Anne Frank house, accusing Frank of forging her diary.

Followers of the conspiracy question Anne Frank's diary's authenticity because they believe the diary was partially written in ballpoint pen. The theorists state that the pen proves that the document is a lie as the ballpoint pen was not invented until after the Holocaust. However, the conspiracy has been disproven. The ballpoint pen was first patented in 1888, according to the BBC, by an American lawyer named John Loud.

At the time, videos of the projection circulated on social media. According to the Dutch newspaper Het Parool, antisemitic played over the clips.

Police have said that they are unable to publicly identify the man in question but that the public prosecutor’s office has asked for the man to be extradited.

Official statements on the incident

The Anne Frank House issued a response to the conspiracy, stating that “From extreme right-wing circles comes the claim that Anne Frank’s diary is a forgery because it was allegedly partly written with a ballpoint pen (which only came into use after the Second World War). This is pertinently untrue. With this, they attempt to question or deny the existence of the Holocaust.”

A recent survey reflected that 29% of Dutch people believe that the Holocaust was a myth. The survey also found that 37% of Dutch millennials and Gen Zs believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

The Goyim Defense League, Holocaust denial and Poland

Wilson is not the first alleged GDL member to escape to Poland to avoid prosecution for Holocaust denial. Jon Minadeo II, who created and distributed antisemitic literature in the US, was arrested in Poland for demonstrating against Jews at the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, according to his own Sept. 4 post on the conservative social media platform Gab.

"Got handcuffed & arrested in Poland today for (((Hate Speech))) regarding Auschwitz," Minadeo wrote. "Just got released tonight with a fine and my chains and computer temporarily confiscated. Life's good! You can't keep me down Jews!"

Phil Barber contributed to this report