The Supreme Court of the German state of Thuringia rejected an appeal by a woman who was denied entry to the Buchenwald memorial site while wearing a keffiyeh.
The judges ruled that the site's management is permitted to prohibit entry with the Palestinian symbol. The court justified its decision by stating that wearing the keffiyeh at the former concentration camp site "endangers the sense of security of many Jews."
The judges added that, in this case, freedom of expression was outweighed by the memorial's purpose of preserving the memory of the Holocaust.
The woman had requested to participate in the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the camp's liberation but was denied entry due to the keffiyeh. After the rejection, she petitioned the court to participate in another ceremony, but this request was also denied. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal.
The judges concluded that the visitor intended to convey a "clear political message" through the keffiyeh, in contradiction of the site's regulations, which require attire "appropriate for the memorial."
The Buchenwald camp, which operated from 1937 to 1945, imprisoned about 280,000 prisoners and approximately 56,000 people were murdered before its liberation by American forces.