The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after he compared children hiding at home to Anne Frank during a Jan. 25 press conference about the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti. The museum said invoking Anne Frank — who died at Bergen-Belsen at 15 after two years in hiding — is inappropriate and offensive. The remarks occurred amid increased ICE activity in the Twin Cities, school absenteeism among immigrant students, and the Jan. 21 detention of a 5-year-old and his father.
Holocaust Museum Rebukes Gov. Tim Walz After He Compares Minnesota Children to Anne Frank
The Hall of Remembrance during an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event January 27, 2015 at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC., Tim Walz announces that he would not be seeking reelection Monday January 5, 2026 at a press conference at the State Capitol in St.Paul, Minn.Alex Wong/Getty; Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz drew sharp criticism from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum after likening the experience of some Minnesota children to that of Anne Frank during a Jan. 25 press conference.
Taken near the close of a news briefing about the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal officers, Walz said:
"We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota."
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum responded the next day, Jan. 26, posting on X (formerly Twitter) that the comparison was inappropriate. "Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish," the museum wrote. "Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges."
Anne Frank spent two years in hiding during World War II and died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15. She was one of six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.
Context: Violence, Federal Enforcement and School Disruption
Walz's comments came as Minnesota grappled with the fallout from recent violent incidents and increased federal enforcement activity. On Jan. 26, former President Donald Trump said he had spoken with Gov. Walz after the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti and described the conversation as "a very good call" in a post on his Truth Social account.
Heightened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area prompted some school districts to offer temporary remote learning options. St. Paul Schools Superintendent Stacie Stanley said in a video message that she had received "hundreds of messages" requesting a virtual option for students who felt unsafe attending in person.
District data cited by The New York Times showed significant absenteeism among immigrant students: roughly half of Spanish-speaking students in St. Paul and about a quarter of Somali-speaking students were absent from school on Jan. 9. The move toward remote instruction followed reports that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, were detained in their driveway on Jan. 21 after returning from the child’s preschool, according to The Guardian, The Washington Post and local outlet Fox 9, which cited the Columbia Heights Public School District.
The backlash to Walz's analogy underscores ongoing tensions about public safety, federal enforcement actions, and the sensitivity of invoking Holocaust imagery in contemporary political discourse.
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