Holocaust denying neo-Nazi’s remains were buried in a Jewish man’s grave in Germany
The grave of Max Friedländer, a Jewish singer and music scholar in Stahnsdorf near Berlin. (Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(JTA) — After the remains of a notorious Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi were interred last week in the burial plot of a German-Jewish music scholar who died before the Holocaust, the church that oversees the cemetery is looking into moving the neo-Nazi’s ashes to rectify its “terrible mistake.”
Henry Hafenmayer, a neo-Nazi known for denying the Holocaust, died last week and was buried Friday at the Stahnsdorf South-Western cemetery in Brandenburg, southwest of Berlin. The plot where Hafenmayer’s ashes were buried had belonged to Max Friedländer, a Jewish singer and scholar of music who died in 1934.
The cemetery’s management said Hafenmayer was originally denied a more central burial plot to prevent his grave from becoming a site of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis. But after denying Hafenmayer the more central plot, it accepted a request to bury him in Friedländer’s plot, which had been deemed available for a new burial because its lease had not been renewed, allowing the cemetery to move Friedländer’s remains elsewhere. Friedländer’s headstone remained in its place, however, because it was designated a historical monument.
According to the Guardian, Friedländer’s headstone was covered for Hafenmayer’s funeral with a sign inscribed with Hafenmayer’s name and a verse from the New Testament: “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
In a statement, Christian Stäblein, a bishop at the church, acknowledged the church’s error.
“The interment of a Holocaust denier at Max Friedländer’s gravesite is a terrible mistake and a staggering course of events in view of our history. We have to immediately look into whether we can revert this process,” Stäblein said.
In a tweet, Samual Salzborn, Berlin’s commissioner on antisemitism, said the choice of Friedländer’s gravesite for Hafenmayer’s burial was not an accident.
“The intention here is obvious that right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave in order to disrupt the peace of the dead by burying a Holocaust denier,” he wrote in a tweet Tuesday. Salzborn filed a criminal complaint with the justice department.
— The post Holocaust denying neo-Nazi’s remains were buried in a Jewish man’s grave in Germany appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
