LONDON: A German literary prize awarded to Russian American journalist Masha Gessen has been withdrawn over an essay in which she compared Gaza to Nazi-era Jewish ghettos.
The Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought was retracted by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, an organization associated with Germany’s Green Party.
The decision was made in unison with the Bremen Senate and stemmed from Gessen’s recent essay in The New Yorker, “In the Shadow of the Holocaust.” The foundation deemed the piece “unacceptable.”
According to German Magazine Die Zeit, the award ceremony for the Hannah Arendt Prize, which was initially planned to take place in Bremen next Friday, will now be held in a “different setting” on Saturday.
Gessen’s essay, which was published on Dec. 9, criticized Germany’s policies toward Israel, highlighting the daily perils of the Palestinian people. The journalist also drew comparisons between the plight of Gazans and the Jews confined in Nazi-era ghettos in Eastern Europe.
In the essay, Gessen, who is of Jewish heritage, described Gaza as a “hyperdensely populated, impoverished, walled-in compound” like those seen under Nazi occupation.
Gessen’s vivid portrayal of the Israeli attacks in Gaza sparked both criticism and acclaim, fueling a nationwide debate on free expression and the complex dynamics surrounding criticism of Israel in Germany.
