“Dignified commemoration” impossible
Holocaust commemoration is postponed due to farmers’ demonstration
January 26, 2024, 4:26 p.m
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The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament’s memorial event for the victims of the Holocaust will be postponed this year. The reason is a farmers’ demonstration in the immediate vicinity that was originally scheduled for the same day. A farmers’ association finds the rejection “incomprehensible”.
The Holocaust Remembrance Day event on January 27th in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt is to be postponed until March. This is reported by the “Jüdische Allgemeine” with reference to the state parliament administration. However, the silent wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial for the persecuted and murdered Magdeburg Sinti and Roma on the cathedral square in Magdeburg will continue to take place.
The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt had canceled a memorial event for the victims of National Socialism planned for Saturday because of announced farmers’ protests. The state of Saxony-Anhalt’s central memorial hour planned jointly with the state government in the plenary hall for the national Holocaust Remembrance Day will not take place, state parliament President Gunnar Schellenberger announced on Thursday.
The reason for this was that the Saxony-Anhalt State Farmers’ Association had registered a rally with 2,500 participants and 300 tractors for Saturday. As a result, it will not be possible for the state parliament to ensure an “appropriate, dignified commemoration of the victims of nationalism, nor for unhindered travel to and from the event, nor to fully guarantee the safety of those taking part in the event at all times,” said Schellenberger in the statement.
Farmers postpone protest
In the meantime, both the Farmers’ Association of Saxony-Anhalt and the Farmers’ Association of Saxony-Anhalt declared that the protest rally against the federal government’s budget policy under the motto “Too much is too much” would be postponed from Saturday to Sunday. From the farmers’ association’s point of view, the cancellation of the memorial event is “incomprehensible” and “surprising”.
“It is very unfortunate that the whole situation has become so serious. Everything could have been discussed with the organizers of the protest rally in advance. Changes to the time and location of our rally would have been possible at any time,” said the President of the Saxony Farmers’ Association. Stop Martin Dippe.
“We never intended to come into conflict with the memorial hour in the state parliament, as we respect it very much. By postponing our event, we want to send a signal to remove the explosiveness that has now arisen and for which we are not responsible.”
The Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism was proclaimed on January 3, 1996 by Federal President Roman Herzog. It is a nationwide, legally enshrined day of remembrance. It refers to January 27, 1945, when the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and the two other concentration camps in Auschwitz were liberated by the Red Army in the last year of World War II. Since the proclamation of the memorial day, the state parliament and the state government have been jointly responsible for the central event of the state of Saxony-Anhalt on January 27th, with responsibility for its implementation changing annually.