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