Church examines the reburial of the urn of Holocaust deniers

2021-10-13T15:39:30.025Z

The burial of a Holocaust denier on the grave of a scientist of Jewish origin caused horror nationwide. The Evangelical Church knew who the funeral was about. She now wants to work up the damage.

The burial of a Holocaust denier on the grave of a scientist of Jewish origin caused horror nationwide.

The Evangelical Church knew who the funeral was about.

She now wants to work up the damage.

Berlin / Stahnsdorf - After the burial of a Holocaust denier on the former grave of the Jewish scientist Max Friedlaender, the Evangelical Church wants to limit the damage. She is examining a reburial of the urn in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf near Berlin. “This is one of the ideas to make amends for what cannot be made good,” said a spokeswoman for the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) on Wednesday. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) reported that Bishop Christian Stäblein was in favor of the man being reburied as soon as possible. The spokeswoman said the stone could also be moved to another location to keep an honorable memory of Max Friedlaender.

According to the EKBO, the Holocaust denier was buried last Friday in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf in Brandenburg on the former grave of Friedlaender in the presence of supporters. The grave of the Protestant of Jewish origin (1852-1934) in the southwest of Berlin was open for re-occupation in 1980. The tombstone is still there because it is a listed building. Regional Bishop Christian Stäblein had apologized and announced an examination of how the process can be reversed. According to the church, the funeral cannot be reversed.

The federal government's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, criticized the funeral as a mistake. "It is actually an extremely unfortunate mistake that has been made here," said Klein to the German press agency. "I have already spoken to those involved and those responsible have given credible assurance that they will work up the case thoroughly internally." They planned to create structures so that something like this would no longer happen.

According to their own statements, the regional church and the cemetery administration knew that it was a Holocaust denier.

The EKBO decided not to refuse the request for a grave site in Stahnsdorf, since everyone has the right to a final resting place.

According to the church, the man wanted a central grave site.

After his death, his authorized representative bought a grave in August, which was withdrawn from the cemetery because there were many graves of the Jewish deceased in the central area.

On the basis of the funeral register, in which Friedlaender with a Protestant denomination is listed, the church then chose a decentralized grave site so that there was no contact point for right-wing extremists.