Church regrets choice for grave of Holocaust deniers

A right-wing extremist is buried - of all places on the former grave of a Protestant of Jewish origin.

That causes outrage.

The church speaks of its own failure and how to deal with the incident.

Stahnsdorf - The Protestant Church has apologized for the burial of a Holocaust denier on the former grave of a scientist of Jewish origin in Stahnsdorf near Berlin. "The burial of a Holocaust denier on the grave of Max Friedlaender is a terrible mistake and a shocking process in view of our history," said the bishop of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO), Christian Stäblein, on Tuesday. "We have to see immediately whether and what we can undo." Previously, several media had reported on the funeral.

According to the church, the man was buried last Friday in the south-west cemetery on the former grave of the musicologist Max Friedlaender (1852-1934) without a Protestant accompaniment.

According to the regional church, Friedlaender was a Protestant of Jewish origin.

The EKBO had made the decision not to refuse the request for a grave, she said.

“The guiding principle is that every person has the right to a final resting place.” The first request for the grave was rejected by the cemetery management, but the selection of the former grave of Friedlaender was also a mistake.

The burial of the Holocaust denier and neo-Nazis is "a failure of our church".

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According to the Senate Department for Justice, Berlin’s anti-Semitism commissioner Samuel Salzborn filed charges against unknown persons on suspicion of disturbing the peace of the dead.

"The intention here is obvious that right-wing extremists have deliberately chosen a Jewish grave in order to disturb the peace of the dead by burying a Holocaust denier," said Salzborn.

Now it must be checked whether and, if so, how quickly "the Holocaust denier can be reburied in order not to disturb the worthy memory of Max Friedlaender any longer".

The Central Council of Jews in Germany also reacted indignantly.

"The burial of a neo-Nazi and school denier on the former grave of the Jewish musicologist Max Friedlaender is unbearable," wrote President Josef Schuster on Facebook and Twitter.

The Berlin regional bishop was shocked and stunned. "I would like to do everything I can to deal with this desecration of Max Friedlaender's grave," said Stäblein, according to the regional church, after a visit to the Stahnsdorf south-west cemetery. “I will review any legal action that could reverse the process. In any case, I will ensure that we keep an honorable memory of Max Friedlaender in this cemetery. ”The church admitted that the explosive nature of the process had not been recognized in advance.

Initially, the Berlin research network and the “Blick nach rechts” portal reported on the funeral.

The Berlin research network put numerous photos of it online.

The police were on duty at the funeral on Friday, which was attended by dozens of supporters of the Holocaust denier.

The south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf is Germany's largest forest cemetery, according to its own account.

Manfred Krug and Heinrich Zille, among others, rest there.

According to canon law, the cemetery is in Berlin.

There it is possible to sponsor historical tombs.

dpa