German court rules Holocaust memorial can deny entry to visitors wearing Palestinian keffiyeh

A German court ruled Wednesday that the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial can legally refuse entry to visitors wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.

The higher administrative court in Thuringia dismissed a woman’s request to attend a commemorative event at the memorial while wearing the scarf. Local reports say she was previously turned away during the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation in April. She then petitioned the courts to return for another ceremony this week while wearing the keffiyeh.

The court sided with the memorial, citing the woman’s stated intent to “send a political message against what she saw as the (memorial's) one-sided support for the policies of the Israeli government.”

"It is unquestionable that this would endanger the sense of security of many Jews, especially at this site," the ruling said, adding that her right to freedom of expression was outweighed by the memorial’s “interest in upholding the purpose of the institution.”

Germany has long been one of 'Israel’s' strongest allies. In recent months, however, it has criticized 'Israel’s' actions in Gaza, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz announcing a halt to new arms export licenses that could be used in the enclave.

The Buchenwald memorial faced controversy last month when an internal document labeled the keffiyeh as “closely associated with efforts to destroy the state of Israel.” Jens-Christian Wagner, the memorial’s director, later described the document as containing “mistakes” and said it would be revised. He told broadcaster NDR that the keffiyeh is not automatically “a forbidden symbol,” but its use alongside other symbols that seek to relativize Nazi crimes would be prohibited.

Buchenwald and its annex, Mittelbau-Dora, near Weimar, held roughly 340,000 prisoners, including Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and Soviet POWs. Around 56,000 people died at Buchenwald through execution, starvation, or forced labor, while Mittelbau-Dora saw another 20,000 deaths as inmates worked on the Nazis’ V1 and V2 rockets.