The ‘Keffiyehs in Buchenwald’ campaign has accused the memorial site’s management of disseminating Israeli propaganda
Several pro-Palestinian groups are organizing a protest against the administration of the memorial honoring Jewish and other victims of the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany, German media reported this past weekend.
Backers of the ‘Keffiyehs in Buchenwald’ online campaign have accused the memorial site’s managers of spreading “Israeli propaganda” and offering “ideological support for the ongoing genocide in Palestine.” The activists are calling for a public demonstration at the site near the German city of Weimar in April, during events marking the 81st anniversary of the camp’s liberation by U.S. troops.
The activists also denounced the ban on the keffiyeh headscarf and other Palestinian symbols at the site, along with the uninviting of Israel critics from events held by the memorial complex.
Rikola-Gunnar Luettgenau, spokesperson for the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, condemned the campaign as “a thoroughly inappropriate exploitation of the commemoration of National Socialism’s victims for political ends.”
Groups that “celebrate and glorify” the Palestinian armed group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and reject Israel’s right to exist “have no place here,” Luettgenau stated on Saturday.
In 2025, a German court upheld the memorial’s right to deny entry to individuals wearing the keffiyeh, reasoning that it would “threaten the sense of security of many Jews, particularly at this location.”
Approximately 278,000 prisoners were detained at Buchenwald from 1937 to 1945, with 56,000 of them perishing.
The Gaza war erupted after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking over 200 hostages. Since then, more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s Gaza operation.