According to a first court decision, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters may now appear in the Frankfurt Festhalle at the end of May. The 79-year-old singer's concert was initially canceled due to allegations of anti-Semitism.

Waters had sued against the decision - and was right on Monday by the Frankfurt Administrative Court. "Roger Waters is looking forward to his performance in Frankfurt," said his management in London after the decision.

On the other hand, the city of Frankfurt and the state of Hesse want to prevent the performance on May 28th in the Festhalle. This also has something to do with the venue, because after the pogrom night in 1938, according to the court, more than 3,000 Jewish men were rounded up, held and mistreated there, only to be deported afterwards.

Artistic freedom as an argument

In its decision, the administrative court also referred to artistic freedom. In addition, the concert does not violate the human dignity of the Jewish men who were abused in the Festhalle and it cannot be established without a doubt that the Jews living in Germany are seriously impaired in their claim to validity and respect, the chamber explained.

It is true that the applicant - Roger Waters - obviously uses symbols based on the National Socialist regime in his stage show. Against the historical background of the festival hall, the stage show may therefore be rated as particularly tasteless. "It is not up to the court to assess this," said a spokeswoman.

The only decisive factor is that Waters' appearance does not glorify or relativize the National Socialist atrocities or that he identifies with the National Socialist racial ideology. "In addition, we have no evidence that Rogers uses propaganda material on his show," said the spokeswoman.

The city and state are joint shareholders of Messe Frankfurt, which rents out the hall. In this capacity, they instructed the fair to terminate the contract with the musician. Waters filed an urgent application to gain access to the hall. "Politicians have no right to intimidate and harass artists and their fans with performance bans," the singer justified the legal step in London. "I fight for all of our human rights, including the right to free speech." He has also previously stated that he is not anti-Semitic.

Parties can object

The parties can still appeal against the decision of the Administrative Court at the Hessian Administrative Court in Kassel. On the "Roger Waters - This is not a drill" tour, the artist also made guest appearances in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. There has been criticism of the planned performances for months.

Among other things, Waters has been criticized for his proximity to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign, which calls for a boycott of the State of Israel and its assets because of the Palestine policy. At concerts he released pig-shaped balloons with a Star of David.

Criticism also in other cities

The city of Munich had already decided in March not to ban the Waters concert in the Olympia Hall there. For legal reasons, it was not possible to terminate the contract with the concert organizer extraordinarily, it said at the time. Instead, the city will set signs for international understanding, international solidarity and against anti-Semitism around the concert, as well as for Israel's right to exist and the sovereignty of Ukraine.

In Cologne, several city council factions, the Cologne synagogue community and various civil society organizations had spoken out against the concert - but the organizer is sticking to it despite the public protest. The city is planning a lecture and discussion event the day before the concert, with which it wants to take a "position against anti-Semitism". According to the cultural authorities, the city of Hamburg cannot cancel the concert planned for the city on the Elbe because it is not the responsibility of the city.

Hesse's anti-Semitism officer Uwe Becker (CDU) had also called for the Frankfurt concert to be canceled. In recent years, Waters has "become more and more a hateful opponent of the State of Israel," he said in November 2022. He uses his notoriety "to agitate against the Jewish state in a defamatory way and to question its legitimacy ". Waters is "a terrible example of aggressive, Israel-related anti-Semitism".

Response from the Jewish community in Frankfurt

"The administrative court made a decision that we cannot understand by literally offering a stage in Frankfurt to a proven anti-Semite," said the board of directors of the Jewish community in Frankfurt after the decision. "The argument that the fundamental right to artistic freedom was violated by the concert cancellation by the trade fair management would only apply to our understanding if anti-Semitism is now covered by artistic freedom in Germany.

The Gießen legal scholar Maximilian Roth explained on Monday that the decision of the Frankfurt administrative court was to be expected from a legal point of view - especially in view of the broad scope of artistic freedom. However, he assumes that the city and state will appeal.