German leaders condemn demonstration against Holocaust site as dangerous distortion of history intensifies.
A controversial anti-Zionist group in Germany has sparked widespread condemnation after announcing plans for a protest connected to the memorial site of Buchenwald concentration camp.
The group, calling itself Kufiyas in Buchenwald, declared it would hold a demonstration on April 11, the anniversary of the camp’s liberation. The protest follows a prior decision by the memorial foundation to prohibit overt pro-Palestinian symbols, including the keffiyeh, during commemorative events.
Buchenwald, established in 1937 near Weimar, was among the first and largest Nazi concentration camps. Approximately 56,000 prisoners were murdered there between 1937 and 1945, including roughly 11,000 Jews.
Last year, a German court upheld the memorial’s right to deny entry to visitors wearing political symbols such as the keffiyeh during official ceremonies. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by a woman who sought to wear the scarf at a liberation commemoration event.
In response to the planned protest, Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald Foundation, reiterated that criticism of Israeli government policies is legitimate in democratic discourse but crosses into antisemitism when it relativizes the Holocaust or portrays its victims as perpetrators. He emphasized that the memorial would not permit such narratives within its grounds.
The planned demonstration has drawn sharp criticism from senior German officials. Felix Klein, Germany’s federal commissioner for combating antisemitism, described the initiative as a troubling example of reversing victim and perpetrator roles. Michael Panse, Thuringia’s commissioner for combating antisemitism, labeled the protest historically ignorant and inappropriate.
The European Jewish Congress also condemned the move, stating that Holocaust memorial sites must remain spaces of solemn remembrance and should not be used to advance political agendas that challenge Israel’s legitimacy or blur historical responsibility for Nazi crimes.
Organizers have indicated that the protest will take place in Weimar, though it remains unclear whether demonstrators intend to gather directly outside the memorial grounds. Authorities are monitoring the situation closely as debate intensifies over the boundaries between political activism and Holocaust remembrance.
