Dispute mars event for 80th anniversary of Buchenwald camp liberation
Memorials to former Nazi concentration camps are free to choose who they invite to their ceremonies, the German government said on Friday, amid a dispute over the cancellation of an appearance by a German-Israeli philosopher.
The row erupted after philosopher Omri Boehm's invitation to give a speech at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp on Sunday was cancelled.
The memorial's leader, Jens-Christian Wagner, said in a statement on Tuesday that Boehm's speech would be postponed due to criticism from "representatives of the Israeli government."
The decision was taken "to protect the survivors," the statement said, with around 10 survivors expected to attend the event.
A government spokesman in Berlin said on Friday that he did not wish to comment on the incident, but that memorials must be able to "pursue their work in complete freedom, without being pressured by state institutions or social groups."
"That means that memorials can freely choose their speakers," the spokesman added.
Israel's ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, told dpa that he was "proud" to "show the red card to a commemoration of the [Holocaust] that relativizes the suffering of the survivors or questions the state of Israel."
"Wherever Omri Boehm appears, he leaves broken china in his wake," Prosor added. "Jens-Christian Wagner's idea to offer him, of all people, a stage on the 80th anniversary of the Buchenwald concentration camp was ludicrous."
Boehm, who received the 2024 Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding for his book "Radical Universalism," has not commented on the spat.
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