Germany – An Iranian delegation upset its German hosts by refusing to tour a concentration-camp memorial, the city council of Weimar in eastern Germany said Thursday.
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The Buchenwald concentration camp, where Nazis killed tens of thousands of political prisoners and people from minorities through disease, exhausting work and executions, is located near the city.
Visitors usually pay their respects to the dead at the memorial and visit the museum. But the group from Shiraz, Iran – a twin city to Germany’s Weimar – refused to make the scheduled trip on Wednesday, civic officials said.
Mayor Stefan Wolf condemned the decision, saying it was inconceivable that a friend would try to ignore the pain caused by the Nazi camp. Local newspapers said the city council refused to meet the Shiraz delegation because of the canceled visit.
Berlin has regularly protested against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust and his calls to wipe the state of Israel off the map. Denying that the Nazis committed genocide against the Jews is a criminal offence in Germany.
Germany established the Shiraz-Weimar connection to keep people- to-people links alive while the governments were at odds.
Why would they go to a concentration camp. Last year they had their investigation into the holocaust and the representatives of Neturei Kartei who attended probably assured them it was a Zionist plot.
It would be a disgrace to the honor of the Kedoshim if they DID go! Noch Besser! Who wants these sonei yisroel traipsing around anyways!
I was liberated on 4-11-1945 in Buchenwald and send this posting to the N.K.. I saw daily korbones of acheinu bnei yisroel
The truth hurts. Sheker cannot go to Emes…it would be the antithesis of what they represent.
What are the Germans, dumb? Of COURSE the Iranian delegation would refuse to visit Buchenwald. First, Iran’s official position is that the Holocaust never occurred, so for an Iranian politician to visit a concentration camp that establishes that the Holocaust is fact occurred would be counter to government policy and probably would get that politician in a heap of trouble. Second, any Arab visiting any place that gives proof for Israel’s raison d’etre is risking execution by his own government.
Its one thing to extend the invitation knowing that it will be refused. Its another to be surprised at the refusal.
the iranians don’t like old history, they want to make history of their own, r”l
yemach shmam
not to mention the nazis shooting and gassing them!!!
Today a visit to Buchenwald is meaningless because it is a sanitized version of the Buchenwald I saw. The electrified fence is gone, the watchtower manned by Totenkopf SS does not exist, the stench from the crematoria burning bodies is no longer present and most of all the walking skeletons of prisoners from various nationalities are not there. Today you have a symbol of utmost barbarism still supported by some “civilized” groups.