Holland: Anne Frank museum banned Orthodox Jewish employee from wearing his skullcap at work

Via The Daily Mail:

A Jewish employee at Anne Frank House could not believe his ears when his bosses banned him from wearing a skullcap at work.

Barry Vingerling turned up for work on his first day at the museum in Amsterdam and was told to take off his 'yarmulke'.

Anne Frank House is a writer's house and museum dedicated to a famous Jewish teenager who wrote a diary as she hid from the Nazis in World War II.

The 25-year-old was told wearing the skullcap might endanger the neutrality of the foundation which runs the museum and 'influence its work combating antisemitism'.

Mr Vingerling did not don a skullcap for his interview but hoped to wear it at work to meet his requirement as an Orthodox Jew to keep his head covered.

The Dutchman was told the brimless cap, also known as a kippah, was banned by the Anne Frank House as employees were not allowed to wear Jewish symbols.

The museum told Mr Vingerling he had to apply for formal permission to wear a yarmulke at the Anne Frank Foundation. (...) The board of the Anne Frank Foundation finally concluded, after more than six months of discussions, that Mr Vingerling could wear his yarmulke.

He said he was happy to hear he could finally wear his skullcap but still did not understand why the Anne Frank Foundation had made an issue out of it for so long.

'I work in the house of Anne Frank, who had to hide because of her identity. In that same house I should hide my identity?' he said.

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