I'm not defending the reasoning here, just saying that these are the obvious possible concerns that spring to my mind:
Discussion of the Holocaust is upsetting in general, and topics related to it may be too heavy for some people. Alternatively, it might just be too much of a buzzkill for a TechCrunch publicity event. Those are just a few stabs in the dark.
Donald Trump, Ben Franklin and Drinking Games are popcorn topics. Empty calories. They're safe and boring. They might tilt the scale a little bit, but safely within the range of attitudes mass media can cover with their lazy paint by numbers toolkit.
Anne Frank brings to mind one of the few remaining topics society takes very seriously anymore. People might raise questions on what it means to give Anne Frank a voice. Question if it is in good taste to include her or not. Or someone could comment that it's a cheap way to bring attention to the app (side note: In contrast, a Trump app is fine because it's undoubtedly that).
Finally, it is feedback like the attempts to shame TC throughout this article that put them on guard and (mis)apply criticism into saying "I'm not touching that with a 10 foot pole" when the topic of Anne Frank comes across their desk.
But what exactly did they expect bringing something thoughtful to an event branded TechCrunch?
