Keffiyeh-clad anti-Zionists to protest outside Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp
'Keffiyehs in Buchenwald' will protest a court decision upholding the memorial's right to ban those wearing the Palestinian nationalist symbol from entering the camp
Anti-Israel groups have announced they will hold a protest outside the site of Buchenwald concentration camp on the anniversary of its liberation in April, in protest against a court decision last year upholding the site’s decision to prevent an activist wearing the Palestinian nationalist symbol from taking part in the event.
A newly formed organisation called “Keffiyehs in Buchenwald”, made up of a number of anti-Zionist groups, has announced that it intends to protest outside the Nazi camp on 11 April, the anniversary of the camp’s liberation, while wearing the scarves in question.
In August last year, a German state court upheld the memorial’s right to prevent the woman’s entry to the site while wearing the garment, describing how the memorial’s “interest in upholding the purpose of the institution”, outweighed her right to freedom of expression.
The court expressly noted that the woman’s declared aim was of “sending a political message against what she saw as the [memorial’s] one-sided support for the policies of the Israeli government””, and described how “It is unquestionable that [her presence] this would endanger the sense of security of many Jews, especially at this site.”
The court said the woman’s right to freedom of expression was outweighed in this case by the memorial’s “interest in upholding the purpose of the institution”.
Hundreds of thousands of Nazi prisoners passed through Buchenwald during its eight years of operation, including Jews, Roma, Communists, Poles, Soviet Prisoners of War and both mentally and physically disabled people. More than 50,000 people died there, of starvation, disease or direct Nazi executions.
Dr Felix Klein, Germany’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, described the intended protest as “a new low in the reversal of roles between victim and perpetrator.”
Last year, an internal document from staff at the memorial was leaked which described the keffiyeh as “closely associated with efforts to destroy the state of Israel”.