An anti-Israel Jewish group in Germany is promoting a campaign in which activists plan to celebrate Palestinian nationalist symbols near or at the former Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald on the anniversary of its liberation, the group confirmed to JNS on Sunday.
“Jüdische Stimme für gerechten frieden in nahost,” a group established in 2003 whose name means “Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East,” is one of the groups involved with the “Kufiyas in Buchenwald” campaign, EJJP Chairman Wieland Hoban said in an email. “Jüdische Stimme” is the German section of the European Jews for a Just Peace (EJJP) umbrella group
The campaign is against the ban on wearing Palestinian nationalist symbols, including the keffiyeh (spelled “kufiya” in German), in Buchenwald, one of the first Nazi concentration camps built, where more than 50,000 people were murdered, including thousands of Jews.
The campaign encourages anti-Israel activists to gather in Weimar, a city located about two miles away from the Buchenwald Memorial, on April 11, the 81st anniversary of its liberation by the United States Army.
In a banner on social media, organizers did not say whether they intended to rally inside the memorial. They wrote that “in addition to a guided tour that vividly illustrates the events at the former concentration camp, we will address the so-called ‘culture of remembrance’ and its concrete implementation at the Buchenwald Memorial through lectures and a panel discussion.”
On Friday, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper in Switzerland reported on the campaign based on social media banners posted on Feb. 12 in channels associated with the campaign that called on readers to particpate in an activity in Weimar.
“We want to exchange ideas, educate ourselves and make our demands clear. So keep the weekend free,” the banner reads.
The organization overseeing the Buchenwald Memorial in Germany on Friday expressed “concern about attempts” to tie the anniversary to demonstrations. “We are concerned that attempts are being made to inappropriately exploit the commemoration,” a spokesperson for the Memorial told the Swiss paper.
The plans are an “intolerable exploitation of the site for the [organizers’] own misanthropic agenda and self-promotion,” the spokesperson added, according to the newspaper.
‘Ban’ on Palestinian symbols
The individuals behind the campaign set up a website that appears to have gone online last month.
A statement on the website condemns the “ban on Palestinian symbols” at the Buchenwald Memorial. The website on Sunday did not contain a call to action, but it featured links to the social media accounts on Instagram and Telegram that featured banners calling for the rally in Weimar on April 11 as well as one in Cologne on March 7.
The reference to a “ban” appears to be related to the Memorial’s decision to deny entry to a woman who wanted to attend last year’s 80th anniversary commemoration ceremony while wearing a keffiyeh.
The woman, who was named only Anna M. in the German media due to privacy laws, sought an injunction against the decision to deny her access, but a court dismissed her legal action. An administrative court later reaffirmed the decision, giving the Memorial the authority to ban individuals seeking access while displaying an appearance the Memorial deems inappropriate.
The “Kufiyas in Buchenwald” website lists 22 groups and 327 individuals as “signatories” to its action. JNS queried organizers through an email on the website to ask whether they applied for a permit to demonstrate in Weimar or Buchenwald. No reply was received in time for publication.
Other “signatory” groups included two U.S. entities: Taxpayers Against Genocide and Richmond CA for Palestine, as well as the International Jewish Antizionist Network, the Communist Organization of Germany and the Tunisian Youth Movement in Germany.
The Swiss paper quoted Felix Klein, the federal government’s commissioner for Jewish life and the fight against antisemitism, as calling the reported plans for a protest rally near Buchenwald on the liberation anniversary a “new low point in the unfortunately all-too-common reversal of perpetrator and victim roles.” He protested “this frontal attack on the dignity of Shoah victims’ memory.”
Bodo Ramelow, a former prime minister of Thuringia, the German state where Weimar and Buchenwald are located, described the campaign as coming from a “highly unpleasant, neo-Stalinist organization.
“We are witnessing an attempt to hijack the commemoration,” he said.
