Republican's Book Where Anne Frank Muses About Jesus Deemed 'Antisemitic'

Critics are condemning a Texas GOP candidate's novel as "antisemitic," arguing that it reimagines Holocaust victim Anne Frank warming up to Jesus prior to getting killed by the Nazis. The author, though, rejects such claims and insists he stands with the Jewish people.

The offending book was written by congressional hopeful and evangelical pastor Johnny Teague, who's running for a 7th District seat in the Houston area, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported on Monday. It comes at a time when many in the Lone Star State are pushing for banned books and antisemitic remarks have made headlines.

Titled The Lost Diary of Anne Frank, Teague's book provides a speculative account of Frank's last days in the Holocaust's concentration camps, per JTA. The way the novel tells it, the Jewish teen may have become curious about Jesus in the days leading up to her death.

The famed Holocaust victim in Teague's book doesn't plainly specify that she'd like to convert, but she does laud Christians in the camp, according to JTA. At one point, Frank says of a woman she encounters: "What I love about her is her faith in God and her faith in Jesus." 

Texas has led the nationwide charge in the push to ban certain books from school shelves. One such GOP lawmaker, state Representative Matt Krause, attracted fierce blowback last year for compiling a list of some 850 titles—largely touching on racism, reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ issues—that he claimed could make some kids uncomfortable.

More recently, rap megastar Kanye West has come under fire for making repeated antisemitic statements. A message was projected onto a football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend that read, "Kanye is right about the Jews."