SHARE
COPY LINK

JEWISH

US Jewish centre meets Malmö mayor

A US-based Jewish group was in Malmö in southern Sweden on Monday to meet with the mayor Ilmar Reepalu, who has previously been the target of criticism for allegedly failing to protect Jews in the city.

US Jewish centre meets Malmö mayor

Representatives for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles met with Reepalu to discuss initiatives for improving the safety and security of the city’s Jewish population.

“It was a very serious meeting where the key issue was security for minorities. But we have a lot of work in front of us,” Abraham Cooper, one of the Wiesenthal centre representatives, said on leaving the meeting shortly after 11am.

In December the centre issued a travel warning urging Jews to exercise “extreme caution” when travelling in southern Sweden.

The statement followed reports of a series of incidents of apparent attacks against the Jewish community and cited “the outrageous remarks of Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu, who blames the Jewish community for failing to denounce Israel.”

While there have been no convictions for hate crimes against Jews in Malmö, local leaders have been scathing in their criticism of the mayor for his apparent nonchalance to their plight amid claims of widespread harassment.

Speaking to the The Sunday Telegraph in February, Reepalu seemed to deny that Jews in Malmö were suffering from harassment despite police reports showing a doubling in the number of crimes against the town’s Jewish residents between 2008 and 2009.

“There haven’t been any attacks on Jewish people and if Jews from the city want to move to Israel, that is not a matter for Malmö,” he told the newspaper.

Reepalu has also been criticised by Malmö-based Jews for allowing anti-Semitism to fester.

“He’s demonstrated extreme ignorance when it comes to our problems,” Fredrik Sieradzki of the Jewish Community of Malmö (Judiska Församlingen i Malmö) told The Local in January.

Jewish leaders have blamed activists on the far-left for being behind the harassment, complaining that they have no right to “use the Jews (in Malmö) as a punching bag for their disdain toward the policies of Israel.”

The team from the Simon Wiesenthal centre were previously in Sweden in December to convey their concerns to justice minister Beatrice Ask during a series of meetings in Stockholm.

One of the proposals presented by the centre is the formation of a form of hate crime police similar to that which exists in the US. Reepalu has reportedly expressed support for the initiative but has forwarded the suggestion to the minister for consideration.

“We wrote to Beatrice Ask already a couple of years ago but have not received a reply. Perhaps the Wiesenthal centre with its power and influence can draw a better response,” Reepalu said.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Dr. Shimon Samuels, Director of International Relations at the centre, arrived in Malmö on Friday to visit Sweden’s third city and to get an understanding of the situation for themselves.

“A very interesting city. In some ways it is better that I thought, in some ways worse,” Cooper told news agency TT on his way to Malmö city hall for meetings with the mayor.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

POLICE

Outrage in Germany after remains of neo-Nazi buried in empty Jewish grave

The burial of a known neo-Nazi's ashes in the former grave of a Jewish musical scholar has sparked outrage in Germany, and prompted Berlin's anti-Semitism official to file a criminal complaint.

Jewish scholar Max Friedlaender's grave stone in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, on October 12th.
Jewish scholar Max Friedlaender's grave stone in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, on October 12th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Jens Kalaene

The remains of the neo-Nazi were buried at the grave of Max Friedlaender in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, with several figures from the extreme-right scene in attendance at the funeral on Friday.

Samuel Salzborn, anti-Semitism official for Berlin, said late Tuesday that he had filed a criminal complaint because “the intention here is obvious – the right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave to disturb the peace of the dead by burying a Holocaust denier there”.

He added that “it must now be quickly examined how quickly the Holocaust denier can be reburied in order to no longer disturb the dignified memory of Max Friedlaender”.

Friedlaender died in 1934 – when Adolf Hitler was already in power – and was buried in the graveyard as his religion was given as ‘Protestant’ in the burial registration slip

His grave was cleared upon expiration in 1980 and opened up for new burials, under common practice for plots after a certain amount of time has passed.

Friedlaender’s gravestone however remains standing as the entire cemetery is protected under monument conservative rules.

‘Mistake’

The Protestant Church managing the graveyard voiced dismay at the incident.

In a statement, it said it had accepted the request for burial at the empty grave because “everyone has a right for a final resting place”.

“Nevertheless, the choice of the former grave of Max Friedlaender is a mistake. We are looking into this mistake now,” the church said in a statement.

At the funeral, a black cloth was laid over Friedlaender’s tombstone while wreathes and ribbons bearing the Nazi-era iron cross symbol were laid on the grave for the neo-Nazi Henry Hafenmayer.

Prominent Holocaust denier Horst Mahler, who has been convicted for incitement, was among dozens at the funeral.

Police deployed at the funeral were able to arrest a fugitive from the far-right scene there, German media reported.

Several war graves stand at the cemetery at Stahnsdorf, and these sites are known in far-right circles, the Protestant church administrating the graveyard admitted.

It added that it has worked closely with police to hinder several neo-Nazi marches there in recent years.

READ ALSO: German hotel workers probed after singer’s anti-Semitism complaint

SHOW COMMENTS