Commenting on the decision by the Munich Administrative Court in the case of Charlotte Knobloch’s right-wing extremist bodyguard, Auschwitz survivor and President of the International Auschwitz Committee Dr Eva Umlauf stressed:

“This shameful and pitiful verdict has caused Holocaust survivors around the world to express their solidarity and gratitude towards Charlotte Knobloch. This woman has defended and shaped democracy in Germany for many years, and she does not deserve the glaringly ignoble rulings by the judges at the Munich Administrative Court, nor does democracy in Germany deserve this.”

And in Berlin Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee said:

“Charlotte Knobloch is one of the symbolic figures of German democracy. Time and again she has impressively demonstrated courage, commitment, and humanity. What on earth can Munich’s administrative judges possibly be thinking, when they allow a police officer, who is responsible for protecting Ms Knobloch, to simultaneously ridicule her online and call for her to be hunted down and transported to Auschwitz? And how can such an officer be allowed to remain in the police force, while at the same time maintaining that he made his inflammatory statements simply ‘for fun’?

In Germany, there are increasing signs that judges’ positions are yet again being occupied by people with minimal understanding of the real world, of history and the current threat to democracy. They appear to be doing little more than indulging their arrogance and supremacy during court proceedings. This decision by the Munich administrative judges not only echoes the Weimar era, it is also a scandal causing massive damage to our country.”