IRAN HOLOCAUST DENIERS' CONFERENCE: THE VIEW FROM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 003527 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/IR, DRL/SEAS, EUR/OHI E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2016 TAGS: PREL PHUM GM IR SUBJECT: IRAN HOLOCAUST DENIERS' CONFERENCE: THE VIEW FROM BERLIN REF: E-MAIL RICKMAN-PAETZOLD Classified By: Political Minister Counselor John A. Bauman for reasons 1.4(b)/(d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The Iranian government-sponsored Holocaust conference received wide official and media attention in Germany, with sharp criticism coming from the Chancellor downwards. It is not yet clear if authorities will pursue criminal charges against Germans involved with the conference. Meanwhile, German think tanks are re-evaluating their relationship with the conference's sponsoring institution. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) According to media reports, two German citizens (both associated with extreme right political movements) participated as invited guests in the December 11-12 Holocaust conference in Tehran, which featured prominent Holocaust deniers and anti-Israel activists. Another six German conference attendees are reported by media sources to have traveled to Iran as tourists. A former chairman of the extreme right Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD) was prevented by German immigration officials from departing Germany to attend the conference. ¶3. (U) In a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on December 12, Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly condemned the Tehran conference, stating that Germany "will never accept it. I would like to make clear that we reject (the conference) with all our strength... we will act against it with all the means we have," she said. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert addressed a letter to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, "explicitly condemning any attempt to offer a public forum for anti-Semitic propaganda under the pretext of academic freedom and objectivity." The Green Party also released a statement condemning the conference. ¶4. (C) FM Steinmeier was mentioned in a number of articles as having denounced the Tehran conference. According to MFA Iran Desk Officer Deike Potzel, the Iranian Charge d'Affaires had been summoned to the MFA on December 6 and, in a brief meeting, was informed by State Secretary Georg Boomgaarden of Germany's worries about conference's content and outcome. According to Potzel, the Iranian Charge made no comments. ¶5. (C) The flurry of criticism and condemnation of the conference contrasts starkly with how German officials had initially planned to respond to the Tehran conference. As noted in reftel, the MFA's original communications strategy regarding the conference was to release a relatively low-key statement and not allow itself to give additional publicity to the Iranian "provocation." ¶6. (U) A quasi-governmental organization also held a "counter-conference" in Berlin as an alternative to the events in Tehran. The German Federal Center for Civic Education (BPB) co-sponsored a one-day event, "The Holocaust in Transnational Memory", to coincide with the Tehran conference. The Berlin event featured bona fide Holocaust researchers and prominent Muslim intellectuals discussing current Holocaust research and the political meaning of Holocaust denial in Germany, Europe, and the Muslim world. ¶7. (C) As Germany has strict laws against Holocaust denial and incitement of hate, the German participants in the Tehran conference may face legal consequences. Even a non-participant may be in trouble with the law: an incendiary letter by Horst Mahler (now serving a jail sentence in Germany for inciting anti-Semitic hatred) was distributed at the Tehran conference. Potzel noted that the MFA had forwarded a copy of the letter to the German Interior Ministry to examine it for possible criminal investigation. ¶8. (C) German think tanks and political foundations are also re-evaluating their relationship with the official Iranian conference organizer, the Iranian MFA-affiliated Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS). Prior to the conference, representatives of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) told Poloff that they would end their regular roundtables with IPIS due to its sponsorship of the Tehran conference. The controversy surrounding the conference may also induce changes at the MFA and foundation programs for Middle Eastern (including Iranian) visitors to include Holocaust education. BERLIN 00003527 002 OF 002 ¶9. (C): COMMENT: The Germans had initially hoped the Tehran conference would be a non-event and no German response would be necessary. Once it attracted international attention, German officials at all levels denounced the event. KOENIG