Remains Holocaust Denier In German Jewish Grave
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – Germany’s Protestant Church and others have condemned the burial of a prominent neo-Nazi’s ashes in a vacant plot of a Jewish musicologist outside Berlin.
Their statements came after police watched mourners burying the ashes of Holocaust denier Henry Hafenmayer at Stahnsdorf South-Western cemetery in Brandenburg.
His urn was placed in the gravesite of professor Max Friedlaender, who died of a stroke in 1934.
In Germany, burial plots are typically reclaimed after leases are not renewed following a period of 10 to 20 years. However, Friedlaender’s headstone remained on the plot because it was declared a listed monument.
The Berlin antisemitism commissioner said, “right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave.”
PROTESTANT CHURCH
The Protestant Church claimed Hafenmayer’s representative had requested a more central burial plot. However, that request was reportedly refused by cemetery authorities due to the many Jewish graves in that area.
Yet, the selection of Friedlaender’s former plot was not turned down because the cemetery records recorded him as Protestant, officials said.
The local bishop called it “a terrible mistake.”
Bishop Christian Stäblein visited the site on Tuesday. The burial plot is in one of Germany’s most prominent Protestant cemeteries.
During Friday’s funeral, Friedlaender’s gravestone was reportedly covered with a black cloth. It was bearing a sign of Hafenmayer’s name and a quotation from John 8:32: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Eyewitnesses said wreaths and flowers laid for the deceased Holocaust denier have since been taken away. It comes amid mounting concern about re-emerging antisemitism in Europe.
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