A spokesperson for the FU said that in the opinion of the board of directors, the foyer of the university building might not be a suitable venue for the exhibition, the Tagesspiegel news portal reported. The Friedrich Meinecke Institute of History had agreed to host the exhibit, but FU Vice-President, Professor Verena Blechinger-Talcott overruled the decision.
The exhibition, entitled "The Vicious Circle", is organised by the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in Newark, UK. It tells the story of the violent attacks on five Jewish communities from the Nazi era to the present day, and explores the "psychology of the pogromists". It also discusses the "alliance between left-wing extremists and Islamists". In the exhibition, images of pogroms – including the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 2023 – are accompanied by antisemitic quotes from Adolf Hitler, Palestinian leader Mohammed Amin al-Husseini and Hamas ideologues. The museum had planned on showing the travelling exhibit for a week at FU in January or February 2025.
The university leadership said it was "in no way bothered by the content or forms of presentation of the exhibition", but felt that a museum could provide a "more appropriate context", with the input of experts.
The university had concerns about "intense discussions" spurred by the exhibition,
– the spokesperson said, adding that
unsupervised exhibitions “of all kinds and on various topics that can evoke emotional reactions” often pose challenges to public order.
The Brussels Signal news portal recalls that in October, masked individuals had broken into an FU building and threatened staff with axes, saws, crowbars and sticks.
And in February, a Jewish student was beaten and hospitalised with fractured facial bones.
The university later claimed that it was legally impossible to expel the perpetrator.
Lectures on antisemitism were also recently cancelled at the University of Freiburg, as was an Israeli professor's lecture at Leipzig University.
Cover photo: Illustration (Source: Pexels)
