Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ANTI-SEMITISM

Two arrested in western Germany after Jewish cemetery vandalized

Two men were arrested in Germany on Monday for allegedly knocking over 40 tombstones in a Jewish cemetery and spraying some of them with blue paint, police said.

Published: 31 December 2019 08:59 CET
Two arrested in western Germany after Jewish cemetery vandalized
A Jewish grave with the Star of David in Rostock.Photo: DPA

Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to tackle hatred after an attack on an German synagogue in October in the eastern German city of Halle killed two people on the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

READ ALSO: What we know about the synagogue shooting in Halle

Monday's two suspects, aged 21 and 33, were “known to the police” and were arrested near the cemetery in western Geilenkirchen, the Aachen police said in a statement.

A witness alerted police after seeing two people in hoods and wearing dark outfits knock over tombstones and spray some with blue paint overnight.

The German government had promised at the end of November to introduce a law making it possible to increase penalties when a crime involved an anti-Semitic motive.

Germany has seen a rise in anti-Semitic acts. Last year, they increased by almost 20 percent compared to 2017, according to police statistics, with the neo-Nazi movement blamed for most of them.

READ ALSO: 'We must send a signal': Germany to tighten law on anti-Semitic crimes

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.

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

SHOW COMMENTS