How the Middle East conflict overshadows art in Germany

"It's not just Germany, the whole world is currently divided when it comes to the Middle East conflict," says Meron Mendel, director of the Anne Frank Educational Center in Frankfurt.

He's a proponent of dialogue between different points of view, but this is not easy to achieve nowadays. The public tone has become harsher, including in Germany. There are people who regard every criticism of Israel as a form of antisemitism, and there are pro-Palestinian activists who disrupt cultural events.

This recently happened in Berlin. US artist Nan Goldin, one of the most renowned contemporary photographers in the world, had traveled to the German capital to open her retrospective "This Will Not End Well" at the Neue Nationalgalerie. The traveling exhibition has been in the works for three years, and Berlin is the third stop after Stockholm and Amsterdam. But art was not the focus of the opening speech.

Accusations against Israel and Germany

Goldin made her stance on the Middle East conflict clear during the exhibition's opening evening on November 22. "I decided to use this exhibition as a platform to amplify my position of moral outrage at the genocide in Gaza and Lebanon," she said.

Goldin lamented the loss of tens of thousands of human lives who have died violent deaths in the past 13 months. And she reprimanded Germany and the state's solidarity with Israel. Germany is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe, the artist pointed out, but protests by Palestinians are still being met with police dogs. "Are you afraid to hear this, Germany?"

Goldin is Jewish; her grandparents escaped antisemitic pogroms in Russia at the end of the 19th century. "I was brought up knowing about the Nazi Holocaust. What I see in Gaza reminds me of the pogroms that my grandparents escaped," Goldin said. "The entire infrastructure of Palestine has been destroyed. The hospitals, the schools, the universities, the libraries. It's also a cultural genocide. Why can't you see this, Germany?"

Pro-Palestinian activists cheer Goldin

Goldin's speech was well received by many visitors. "Her fearless words of care and clarity resonated throughout this country, which is currently using the full force of the law, media, cultural and academic institutions to silence and criminalize the Palestinian solidarity movement," the Berlin-based South African artist and activist Adam Broomberg wrote on Instagram. "It felt like the first time in a long time that we could breathe in Germany."

Many activists turned up with keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, shouts of "Viva Palestine" echoed through the hall, and protesters also gathered outside the museum, where a banner with the slogan "Staatsräson is genocide" was unfurled. German politicians refer to Germany's special responsibility to Israel as "Staatsräson," or "reason of state."

Neither Nan Goldin nor the pro-Palestinian artists' collective Arts & Culture Alliance Berlin responded to DW's inquiries before publication of this article.

Mendel has noted a change in the pro-Palestinian protest movement. "The protests are now less about the demand to end the war or to reach a ceasefire but rather, in most cases, about what is meant by anti-Zionism: namely the idea that Israel has no right to exist as a state and that everything 'from the river to the sea' is Palestine," Mendel says. This is also due to how Israel is viewed in much of the world, he explains: as a "colonial" state — the last outpost of the West in the Global South.

Are exhibition cancellations justified?

Activists argue that pro-Palestinian voices in Germany are being silenced, and exhibitions by pro-Palestinian artists are being canceled in droves. Goldin also spoke about this.

"We actually had a few cases after October 7 where Palestinian or pro-Palestinian artists were 'canceled,'" says Mendel. "Exhibitions were canceled, conferences were canceled, people were uninvited." One example is the South African artist Candice Breitz, herself a Jew, who was falsely accused of having signed a BDS letter — the movement calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. An award ceremony at the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair for the Palestinian author Adania Shibli was also postponed.

Mendel believes that several of these decisions were wrong and affected people who did not hold antisemitic views. But there were also cases where excluding people could arguably be justified, he explains, such as individuals "who, for example, saw the Hamas massacre on October 7 as a liberation act and thus implicitly called for violence themselves."

There has been a long-running debate in Germany about when someone is considered antisemitic. The German Bundestag recently passed a resolution on antisemitism entitled "Never again is now: Protecting, preserving and strengthening Jewish life in Germany."

"This resolution is nothing more than a repeat of the resolutions that were already passed in 2017, with the adoption of this IHRA definition [of antisemitism], and in 2019, with what's known as the BDS resolution," says Mendel. "In this respect, this resolution doesn't really change anything about the situation. We've had this standstill, boycott and counterboycott since documenta, at the very latest."

Critics of the new resolution complain that it creates a climate of self-censorship and mistrust. Among other things, they criticize the resolution's use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, which can be interpreted very broadly. For example, "Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis" is defined as antisemitic. By this logic, Goldin's position that Gaza reminds her of the pogroms her grandparents escaped could arguably be considered antisemitic.

The debates are becoming more heated — this was evident at the opening of the exhibition in the Neue Nationalgalerie. When the museum's director, Klaus Biesenbach, stepped up to the microphone to respond to Goldin, he was almost drowned out by the loud chanting of activists. A man who is responsible for art suddenly became the representative of a state that is struggling with how to manage the protests against Israel.

Freedom of expression lost in the tumult

Biesenbach read in vain amidst the din. Politicians later complained that the disruptors were not interested in dialogue. Once they had left the hall, Biesenbach repeated his speech.

"As a museum, we are deeply committed to freedom of art and freedom of expression, even if we do not agree with what is being expressed," Biesenbach said. "Equally important is our commitment to the dignity of every individual, which requires a firm rejection of all forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and all other forms of hatred, bigotry and violence."

The Neue Nationalgalerie clearly distanced itself from the protesters' statements. "Israel's right to exist is not in question for us. Hamas' attack on the Jewish state on October 7, 2023, was a cruel act of terrorism that cannot be justified by anything," Biesenbach said. "At the same time, we sympathize with the civilian population in Gaza and Lebanon, whose suffering must not be overlooked. All people in the Middle East have the right to live without fear and with the knowledge that they are safe. We are committed to a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict."

In a statement, Biesenbach said that culture is the place in society where debate and discussion can take place — but not fighting.

Hardened fronts

Mendel sees things similarly and explains that the tumult at the exhibition's opening can be viewed in different ways. "You can say it was an act of protest, and protest can be loud and can sometimes be disruptive." But, he went on, people should then sit down together and facilitate dialogue between different positions.

The Neue Nationalgalerie attempted to do precisely this in the aftermath of the opening, with a symposium entitled "Art and Activism in Times of Polarization." Palestinians and Israelis, Zionists and anti-Zionists, Jews and non-Jews — everyone was supposed to be able to openly express their opinion, as Goldin had done in her opening speech. "It was clear that she would take a decidedly pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli position, and yet she was given the stage and allowed to say anything she wanted," says Mendel.

Goldin, however, declined to take part in the symposium. And some pro-Palestinian activists even tried to stop it from taking place. "They not only threatened and attacked panel guests but also employees of the Neue Nationalgalerie," says Mendel. "They were called 'Nazis' and threatened with consequences. So we see that extremists from both sides use exactly the same weapons — the weapons of boycott and cancellation to prevent civilized, constructive discussion."

Despite several cancellations, Mendel believes the symposium was a success. "We were not aiming to reach a consensus by the end of the day," he says, but people talked to each other respectfully. "This then raises the question of who we pay attention to — to those who shout loudly, who call for a boycott and use violence? Or do we pay attention to the 500 people who spoke interestedly and critically with one another?"

This article was originally written in German.