--- title: Anne Frank Halloween Costume Removed After Backlash description: A Halloween costume depicting Holocaust victim Anne Frank appears to have been removed from several retailers after sparking backlash canonical: https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-16T23:33:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:53:12.830Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash og:description: "We should not trivialize her memory as a costume" og:url: https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cbc9284069c4629/6988e23086f68e5bb16e6e0c/anne-frank-halloween-costume.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: anne-frank-halloween-costume og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash twitter:description: "We should not trivialize her memory as a costume" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cbc9284069c4629/6988e23086f68e5bb16e6e0c/anne-frank-halloween-costume.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash ## Video: This Year's 7 Hottest Halloween Costumes [Watch (HLS stream): This Year's 7 Hottest Halloween Costumes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lWECB9t9.m3u8) (1:51)  _Published 2017-10-16. This Year's 7 Hottest Halloween Costumes_  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 16, 2017 11:33 PM CUT  The "World War II Evacuee Girl Costume" pictured on TheHalloweenSpot.com, which has since removed the costume. The "World War II Evacuee Girl Costume" pictured on TheHalloweenSpot.com, which has since removed the costume.Courtesy of The Halloween Spot  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Oct 16, 2017 11:33 PM CUT A Halloween costume depicting Holocaust victim [Anne Frank](http://time.com/4770800/anne-frank-secret-annex/ "undefined") appears to have been removed from several retailers after it sparked social media backlash. Screenshots show the costume described on several sites as a “World War II evacuee girl” or Anne Frank, whose [surviving diary](http://time.com/4803406/anne-frank-diary-anniversary/ "undefined") has become a powerful symbol of the tragedy of the Holocaust. The costume includes World War II-era clothing and a green beret. “We should not trivialize her memory as a costume,” [said](https://twitter.com/carlosgeADL/status/920010036956553216 "undefined") Carlos Galindo-Elvira, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Arizona office. HalloweenCostumes.com removed the costume on Sunday in response to criticism. As of Monday night, the costume appeared to have been removed from Walmart’s website as well, but was still [being sold on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Smiffys-World-Evacuee-Costume-Dress/dp/B004CWAZIE/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508193953&sr=8-1&keywords=anne+frank+costume "undefined"). “We sell costumes not only for Halloween, but for many uses outside of the Halloween season, such as school projects and plays. We offer several types of historically accurate costumes – from prominent figures to political figures, to television characters,” a spokesperson for HalloweenCostumes.com said in a [tweet Sunday night](https://twitter.com/RossWalkerSmith/status/919720227696496642?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Few.com%2Fnews%2F2017%2F10%2F16%2Fanne-frank-halloween-costume-removed-from-online-retailer%2F "undefined"), adding that the costume had been removed. “We apologize for any offense it has caused, as that’s never our intention.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/"},"headline":"Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash","datePublished":"2017-10-16T23:33:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:53:12.830Z","description":"\"We should not trivialize her memory as a costume\"","url":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/","keywords":["halloween","Holocaust","Holidays","holiday","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cbc9284069c4629/6988e23086f68e5bb16e6e0c/anne-frank-halloween-costume.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1cbc9284069c4629/6988e23086f68e5bb16e6e0c/anne-frank-halloween-costume.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"anne-frank-halloween-costume","caption":"The \"World War II Evacuee Girl Costume\" pictured on TheHalloweenSpot.com, which has since removed the costume.","creditText":"Courtesy of The Halloween Spot","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/halloween/","name":"halloween"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/","name":"Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Year's 7 Hottest Halloween Costumes","description":"This Year's 7 Hottest Halloween Costumes","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lWECB9t9/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-10-16T20:07:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lWECB9t9.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/","duration":"PT1M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4985058/anne-frank-halloween-costume-holocaust/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```