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JEWS

Hollywood scraps filming after Malmö Jews alert

A Hollywood film company was planning to set a movie with a Jewish theme in Skåne in southern Sweden but changed its mind due to concerns over anti-Semitism in Malmö.

Published: 12 July 2011 08:27 CEST
Hollywood scraps filming after Malmö Jews alert

The Öresund Film Commission, a Swedish-Danish cooperation helping foreign film companies seeking to film in the Öresund region, received an email from the Hollywood firm in February which raised concerns over the safety of the Jewish community, according to a report in the local Sydsvenskan daily.

”Only problem I see with this project… is the huge problem that this being a Jewish story and that the Simon Wiesenthal center in the USA called the south of Sweden a VERY unsafe place for the Jewish community,” the email read.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in December 2010 issued a travel warning urging Jews to exercise “extreme caution” when traveling in southern Sweden.

The warning came following an escalation of attacks directed against Malmö Jews and remarks from Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu perceived to lay the blame on the city’s Jewish community for failing to denounce Israel.

Mikael Svensson at the Öresund Film Commission expressed surprise over the film company’s email and its decision to find an alternative location.

“I have followed the debate, but never thought that it could spread to the film industry and this type of decision,” he told the newspaper.

Skåne has become an established location for Swedish and international film makers with several films based in and around the cities of Malmö and Ystad, such as the criminal detective series “Wallander”, starring Kenneth Branagh.

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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.

Published: 13 October 2021 12:35 CEST
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

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