The makers of an escape room game in which participants are asked to imagine they are Anne Frank hiding from the Nazis during World War II have shrugged off criticism, saying they do not intend to insult anyone.

Escape room games are an increasingly popular pastime. Participants are locked in a space and have to get out within an hour by following clues and using team work. Thijs Verberne, 19, has now developed two games in a World War II bunker in Valkenswaard which he reportedly manages.

In one game, players are invited to ‘put yourself in Anne Frank’s shoes’. ‘You decide to go into hiding out of fear that you will be sent away to the camps. You have to face various challenges with the constant threat of being busted by the Germans,’  the website states.

The website features a photograph of the book case used to hide the door to Frank and her family’s hideaway.

The second game is based on being a member of the resistance.

The Anne Frank Foundation has described the game as showing a lack of respect for Frank, who died in a concentration camp shortly before the end of the war.

‘It gives the impression that going into hiding is an exciting game and if the people involved were clever enough, they would not have been caught,’ spokeswoman Maartje Mostart told the Parool.

‘This is both historically and educationally wrong and insulting to those who really did have to go into hiding because of the persecution of the Jews.’

Musicals and films

Game owner Verberne told the Parool that he has no intention of insulting anyone. ‘You’ve got a book, museum, films and a musical so why not a game?’ he said.

‘You learn about what Anne Frank went through,’ he said. The 19-year-old said all the money earned from people playing the game goes back into keeping the bunker – a listed building – in good shape.

Meanwhile, Valkenswaard’s mayor is now reportedly investigating whether Verberne can use the bunker as an escape room under local zoning plans.