Current:Home > NewsAuthor Masha Gessen receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos-InfoLens
Author Masha Gessen receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos
View Date:2024-12-23 12:12:15
BERLIN — The Russian-American writer Masha Gessen received a German literary prize Saturday in a ceremony that was delayed and scaled down in reaction to an article comparing Gaza to Nazi German ghettos.
The comparison in a recent New Yorker article was viewed as controversial in Germany, where government authorities strongly support Israel as a form of remorse and responsibility after Adolf Hitler's Germany murdered up to 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
Gessen, who was born Jewish in the Soviet Union, is critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
Reaction to the article comes as German society grapples with the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, with both pro-Palestinian protests and pro-Israel demonstrations taking place in past weeks. German leaders have repeatedly stressed their support for the country's Jews and for Israel as they have denounced antisemitic incidents.
More:Writer Salman Rushdie decries attacks on free expression as he accepts German Peace Prize
Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist
Gessen was originally due to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought on Friday in the city hall of Bremen, in northwest Germany, but the sponsoring organization, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Senate of the city of Bremen withdrew from the ceremony.
It took place instead in a different location Saturday with about 50 guests crowded into a small event room and with police security, the German news agency dpa reported.
In Gessen's article, titled "In the Shadow of the Holocaust," the author explores German Holocaust memory, arguing that Germany today stifles free and open debate on Israel.
Gessen also is critical of Israel's relationship with Palestinians, writing that Gaza is “like a Jewish ghetto in an Eastern European country occupied by Nazi Germany.”
“The ghetto is being liquidated," the article added.
The ghettos in German-occupied countries during World War II were open-air prisons where Jews were killed, starved and died from diseases. Those who didn't perish there were rounded up and transported to death camps where they were murdered, a process called "liquidation."
The Böll Foundation, affiliated with Germany's Green party, called the comparison "unacceptable." A jury decided in the summer to award Gessen, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the foundation said it wasn't canceling the award itself.
Gessen was not available for comment, a New Yorker spokesperson said, but the writer defended the article in an interview with Politico.
"I think it is possible to be very upset about that comparison," Gessen told Politico. "I also think that in this circumstance, it is morally necessary and politically necessary to make this very, very upsetting comparison."
The award is to honor people who contribute to public political thought in the tradition of Hannah Arendt, the German-born American political theorist who explored totalitarianism.
veryGood! (21)
Related
- LSU student arrested over threats to governor who wanted a tiger at college football games
- Bachelor Nation's Kelsey Anderson Shuts Down Jealousy Rumors Amid Fiancé Joey Graziadei's DWTS Run
- Michigan deputy jumps into action to save 63-year-old man in medical emergency: Video
- GM recalls 450,000 pickups, SUVs including Escalades: See if your vehicle is on list
- 1 dead, 2 children injured in wrong-way crash; driver suspected of DWI: Reports
- New Jersey Devils agree to three-year deal with Dawson Mercer
- Court takes ‘naked ballots’ case over Pennsylvania mail-in voting
- 8 California firefighters injured in freeway rollover after battling Airport Fire
- Who is Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman Donald Trump picked to serve as attorney general?
- Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will visit a Pennsylvania ammunition factory to thank workers
Ranking
- AP Top 25: Oregon remains No. 1 as Big Ten grabs 4 of top 5 spots; Georgia, Miami out of top 10
- Election 2024 Latest: Trump and Harris campaign for undecided voters with just 6 weeks left
- Katy Perry's new album '143' is 'mindless' and 'uninspired,' per critics. What happened?
- Alleged Hezbollah financier pleads guilty to conspiracy charge
- Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week
- Mississippi mayor says a Confederate monument is staying in storage during a lawsuit
- The Midwest could offer fall’s most electric foliage but leaf peepers elsewhere won’t miss out
- Gunfire outside a high school football game injures one and prompts a stadium evacuation
Recommendation
-
California farmers enjoy pistachio boom, with much of it headed to China
-
Over 137,000 Lucid beds sold on Amazon, Walmart recalled after injury risks
-
Elle King says she didn't want 'to hurt' dad Rob Schneider after speaking 'her truth'
-
Jessie Bates ready to trash talk Travis Kelce Sunday night using Taylor Swift
-
Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week
-
North America’s Biggest Food Companies Are Struggling to Lower Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions
-
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom's Daughter Daisy Seemingly Makes Singing Debut in Song Wonder
-
The Midwest could offer fall’s most electric foliage but leaf peepers elsewhere won’t miss out