New Israeli consulate general opened in Munich
In close vicinity to Adolf Hitler's former office, the new Israeli consulate general in Munich has opened its doors. The building is close to the former headquarters of the National Socialists as well as to the former “Führer's building”.
“Now we are here”, Israeli ambassador Yakov Hadas-Handelsmann said, according to the German news channel Bayerischer Rundfunk at the opening of the new consulate general. “Here” in this case means a place full of history and terror: the part of Munich where the NSDAP-headquarters stood, along with the Fuehrer's Building, where Hitler had his office and signed the 1938 Munich Agreement.
This is also where Israelis can from now on apply for visas or renew their passports. The federal state of Bavaria has rented one of the buildings on the Karolinenplatz to the Israeli state, where General Consul Dan Shaham and his staff will continue their work.
Seehofer: There is no place for anti-semitism in this country
The opening ceremony of the new consulate general was attended by, among others, Bavarian State Minister Horst Seehofer, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Israeli Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria.
According to the Bayerische Rundfunk, Seehofer at the opening ceremony pointed towards recent marches by Pegida, a right-wing group in Germany. “There is no place for xenophobia or Anti-Semitism in this country”, he stated. Charlotte Knobloch spoke about her childhood in Nazi Germany, emphasizing how the close friendship between Israel and Germany was once unthinkable.
Financial support for Jewish communities in Bavaria
On the day of the opening, Bavaria took another step in manifesting this cooperation even further: Seehofer, Knobloch and Josef Schuster (President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany) signed a document stating that Bavaria will support the Jewish communities in Bavaria with eleven million Euro per year. As the Bayerische Rundfunk writes, the money will be used for security around Jewish institutions as well as for childcare and cultural projects.
At the new consulate general, no money went into a huge reception room, which was deemed unnecessary. Therefore, the recent opening ceremony did not take place in the consulate itself, but instead in the neighbouring University of Music and Performing Arts –which is located in the former Führer's building.
