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ANTI-SEMITISM

Marches against anti-Semitism to take place across France

Marches against anti-Semitism will be taking place in several French cities on Tuesday as people take to the streets at a time when anti-Semitic acts are on the rise in France.

Published: 18 February 2019 17:17 CET
Marches against anti-Semitism to take place across France
File photo: People attend a gathering in Marseille in memory of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman murdered in her home in Paris, AFP
Among those demonstrating will be high profile politicians including France's Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer and government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
 
Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau has also said she plans to march, saying “there is a leprosy that rises in Europe, we must fight it and we will shoot it down”.
 
Former French President Francois Hollande is set to attend as are former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the former mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe.
 
Leader of left-wing political party La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon will also demonstrate.
 
READ ALSO:

Outrage in Paris over anti-Semitic graffiti on bagel restaurant window

French President Emmanuel Macron will not be joining in the marches however he will be attending the 34th annual dinner of CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations on Wednesday where he will give a speech. 
 
Meetings have been organized in a large number of French cities, including in Paris at Place de la Republique, Nice, Strasbourg, Metz, Pau, Lille, Tours, Limoges, Valence, Perpignan, Marseille, Caen, Saint-Etienne and Avignon.
 
Anti-Semitic acts surged by 74 percent in France, home to Europe's largest population, last year, from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018. 
   
“Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison,” said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.
 
In two separate incidents in recent weeks, swastikas were drawn on Paris postboxes containing portraits of late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the word Juden (German for Jews) was sprayed on the window of a bagel bakery in the capital (see photo above).
 
 
 

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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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