A German court has ruled that the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial may lawfully bar visitors from wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh at commemorative events, upholding the site’s right to restrict political displays on its grounds.

The Higher Administrative Court of Thuringia issued the decision Wednesday after a woman challenged her exclusion from an April ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of Buchenwald’s liberation. She had arrived wearing the scarf, which she admitted was meant to protest what she described as the memorial’s “one-sided support” for Israel.

The judges determined that her protest risked disturbing the site’s solemn purpose and Jewish visitors in particular.

“It is unquestionable that this would endanger the sense of security of many Jews, especially at this site,” the court said in its ruling. It concluded that the woman’s right to free expression was outweighed by the memorial’s mandate to preserve historical dignity and prevent political agitation.

The case follows controversy over a leaked internal Buchenwald document that described the keffiyeh as “closely associated with efforts to destroy the state of Israel.” Memorial director Jens-Christian Wagner later called that phrasing “mistaken,” but stood by restrictions when the scarf is used to politicize Nazi crimes or undermine the memory of Holocaust victims.

“The keffiyeh is not banned outright,” Wagner told AFP, “but it may be restricted when it risks relativizing Nazi crimes.”

Buchenwald, located near Weimar, was one of the largest concentration camps on German soil. During World War II, about 340,000 people were imprisoned there. At least 56,000 died in the camp itself, while another 20,000 perished at its Mittelbau-Dora annex, where prisoners were forced to build rockets for the Nazi war machine.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)