Author receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos
ABC News
The Russian-American writer Masha Gessen has received a German literary prize in a ceremony that was delayed and scaled down in reaction to an article comparing Gaza to Nazi German ghettoes
BERLIN -- The Russian-American writer Masha Gessen received a German literary prize on 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, which strongly supports Israeli as a form of remorse and responsibility for murdering up to 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
Criticism of Gessen's criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians comes as Germany grapples with the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, both pro-Palestinian protests and pro-Israel demonstrations in reaction to rising antisemitism.
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 Bremen Senate withdrew from the ceremony.
It took place instead in a different location on Saturday with about 50 guests crowded into a small event room and with police security, the German news agency dpa reported.
