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ANTI-SEMITISM

‘We must send a signal’: Germany to tighten law on anti-Semitic crimes

Germany is planning to tighten legislation on anti-Semitic crimes, a minister said on Thursday following a deadly attack aimed at a synagogue in Halle in former east Germany last month.

Published: 28 November 2019 17:35 CET
'We must send a signal': Germany to tighten law on anti-Semitic crimes
Window of a new synagogue which opened in Konstanz on November 8th. Photo: DPA

Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht told parliament that anti-Semitism would be made an aggravating factor for hate crimes in the criminal code.

The current law mentions discrimination against particular groups as an aggravating factor but does not refer to anti-Semitism specifically.

“I am ashamed that Jews in Germany no longer feel safe and that so many are even thinking of leaving the country,” Lambrecht told parliament.

“We have to send a clear signal against anti-Semitism.”

READ ALSO: 'It doesn't change my feeling about Germany': Jewish community fearful but defiant after Halle attack

Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the change was “an important step towards a consistent punishment of anti-Semitic crimes”.

The change is part of a package of government measures announced since the
Halle attack, including obliging social media networks to report online death threats and incitement of racial hatred to police.

In the Halle attack, a gunman opened fire on a kebab shop after earlier trying and failing to storm a synagogue. He killed a 20-year-old customer in the shop and a female passer-by before being arrested.

Anti-Semitic offences rose by almost 10 percent in Germany last year, with
violent attacks going up more than 60 percent, according to preliminary police

data released in February.

Police recorded 1,646 offences motivated by hatred against Jews, the highest level in a decade.

Among these were 62 violent offences that left 43 people injured, up from 37 physical attacks the previous year, the data showed.

READ ALSO: Violent anti-Semitic attacks increase by 60 percent

 

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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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