In a move laden with historical irony, Marlene Engelhorn — heiress to a German industrial dynasty that once profited from the production of Zyklon B, the gas used to murder millions of Jews in Nazi death camps — is joining the next pro-Palestinian flotilla bound for Gaza, activist groups announced.

Engelhorn, who inherited an estimated $27.1 million from her grandmother in 2021, is a descendant of the Engelhorn family, founders of BASF. In the 1920s, BASF merged into the IG Farben conglomerate, which later supplied the cyanide-based Zyklon B to the Nazis during the Holocaust. IG Farben was broken up after the war for its central role in the genocide, but BASF reemerged and remained under Engelhorn family control until the mid-1990s.

Now, nearly eight decades later, the descendant of a company tied to the Holocaust is positioning herself as a moral authority on human rights — against the Jewish state.

Engelhorn’s participation in the “Freedom Flotilla to Gaza” was revealed in a video posted by the “Global Movement to Gaza Austria.” In it, Engelhorn declared her support for what she calls the fight against “genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation,” affirming her solidarity with the Palestinian cause. “The flotilla is sailing soon,” she wrote, “and we are excited to announce that Marlene Engelhorn will be aboard and stand on the right side of history.”

The so-called Handala flotilla, which Engelhorn is joining, has already attempted to breach Israeli waters. On July 26, the Israeli Navy intercepted the vessel before it reached the shores of Gaza. The IDF and Foreign Ministry confirmed that the ship was redirected while still in international waters and that no aid was allowed to reach Hamas-held territory.

Among the other participants was Jewish-American activist Bob Suberi, who declared the mission a symbolic success despite being intercepted. “We tried to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza,” Suberi said. “It was well publicized and thus directed international attention to the continuing siege and the genocide by starvation.”

The use of such loaded language — including accusations of “genocide” — has drawn fierce criticism from Israeli officials and Jewish organizations, who argue that the flotilla’s mission is a propaganda stunt that ignores Hamas’ role in perpetuating both the blockade and the suffering of civilians by embedding itself among them and diverting humanitarian aid.

Engelhorn is no stranger to radical positions. Following her inheritance, she famously tried — unsuccessfully — to convince the Austrian government to impose a 90% tax on her windfall, despite the country having no inheritance tax. She went on to found “Tax Me Now,” a global campaign urging governments to heavily tax the rich. She is often cited alongside fellow left-wing heiresses Abigail Disney and Valerie Rockefeller.

In a statement condemning the flotilla, one Israeli official remarked, “For the granddaughter of a Nazi-era profiteer to target the world’s only Jewish state under the guise of human rights is not just hypocrisy — it’s grotesque.”

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