Former Pink Floyd bassist and frontman Roger Waters is reportedly facing a criminal investigation after dressing up in a costume resembling an SS officer during a recent concert in Berlin, per the Jewish News.
The concert, which took place at the Mercedes-Benz arena in Berlin on May 17, featured Waters entering the stage after an intermission donning the SS-like uniform with red armbands marked with crossed hammers instead of swastikas; in this uniform, Waters fired a faux gun while performing the Pink Floyd song “In the Flesh,” reported journalist Nicholas Potter in a piece for Belltower News. Belltower describes itself as “a journalistic platform focusing on far-right extremism, right-wing populism, as well as forms of prejudice, discrimination and hate.” According to the Jewish News, the SS costume was apparently “satirical” as a means of “challenging authoritarianism and threats to freedom of speech.” The British tabloid Metro similarly reported that the Nazi uniform Waters wore was “the same that was worn by the fictitious neo-Nazi organisation in the 1982 film Pink Floyd: The Wall,” based off the Pink Floyd album of the same name. In a podcast interview earlier in the month, Waters described the use of the Nazi uniform as “parody.”
“Police in Berlin have opened a criminal investigation into suspected incitement by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters following a concert in Berlin in which he dressed in a uniform resembling a Nazi officer”
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) May 25, 2023
On May 25, the Jewish News quoted Berlin Police Chief Inspector Martin Halweg as saying: “The State Security Department at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office has initiated a criminal investigation procedure regarding the suspicion of incitement of the people (140 Paragraph 4 of the German criminal Code). The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace. After the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office for legal assessment.” CNN confirmed with the Berlin police spokeswoman that Waters is in fact under a criminal investigation for wearing the uniform.
Waters addressed the matter in a statement posted to social media on May 26, stating that the criticism he has faced over it has consisted of “bad faith attacks from those who want to smear me and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.” “The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms,” Waters said. “Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ in 1980. I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression wherever I see it. When I was a child after the war, the name of Anne Frank was often spoken in our house, she became a permanent reminder of what happens when fascism is left unchecked. My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price.
“Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) May 26, 2023
Earlier in the show, the screens warned of “they,” defined simply as “the powers that be,” being “brutal,” according to Potter. “‘They’ want to destroy our resistance and continue to rule the world,” Potter described the scenes depicted on the screens of the venue. “It’s about a powerful enemy who acts in the dark, pulls the strings behind the scenes and threatens his own existence. Against ‘those up there’. They are enemies who are repeatedly portrayed as dehumanized figures throughout the evening. A highly dangerous story that has culminated in violence against Jews for centuries.” Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and Anne Frank, along with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, were listed on the screen as being “victims of this supposed world conspiracy,” wrote Potter, who noted that the screens claimed that Abu Akleh was killed for “being Palestinian,” and then listed Frank’s name, saying she was killed for “being Jewish.” Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) raid in Jenin; the IDF has said it’s “highly likely” she was killed by an IDF bullet on accident. Frank was murdered in the Bergen-Belsen death camp. Waters later replaced the SS uniform with a Palestinian keffiyeh as the words “Palestinian Rights” and “F— the Occupation” blared on the screens, per Potter.
It wouldn’t have been a Waters concert without the infamous inflatable pig making an appearance; Waters had previously come under fire for featuring a pig adorned with the Star of David at one of his concerts. Instead of a Star of David, the pig at the May 17 concert was adorned with the logo of Elbit Systems, an Israel-based international defense company.
Shortly before the show started, Waters announced on the loudspeakers: “A court in Frankfurt has ruled that I am not an antisemite”––referencing how the city of Frankfurt had attempted to block Waters from performing there on May 28 over his antisemitism and was blocked from doing so by a court––prompting applause from the audience, according to Potter. Waters also said, “Just to be clear, I condemn antisemitism unreservedly.”
Waters’ concert antics were roundly condemned on social media. The Israel Twitter account, which is run by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, tweeted: “Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.”
Good morning to every one but Roger Waters who spent the evening in Berlin (Yes Berlin) desecrating the memory of Anne Frank and the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/4tcrV6f8mt
— Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 (@Israel) May 24, 2023
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt tweeted she “wholeheartedly” agreed with the condemnation of Waters by European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life Katharina von Schnurbein. Von Schnurbein had tweeted that she is “sick & disgusted by Roger Waters’ obsession to belittle and trivialize the Shoah & the sarcastic way in which he delights in trampling on the victims, systematically murdered by the Nazis. In Germany. Enough is enough. Holocaust trivilisation is criminalized across the EU [European Union].”
I wholeheartedly concur with @EUAntisemitism’s condemnation of Roger Waters and his despicable Holocaust distortion. https://t.co/9gfdH94TZl
— Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt (@StateSEAS) May 25, 2023
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “Roger Waters once again attempts to mainstream antisemitism & anti-Israel hate with disgusting & offensive displays at a Berlin concert – the former Nazi regime capital – including desecrating the memory of Anne Frank, comparing Israel to Nazis & wearing an SS uniform on stage.”
Roger Waters once again attempts to mainstream antisemitism & anti-Israel hate with disgusting & offensive displays at a Berlin concert – the former Nazi regime capital – including desecrating the memory of Anne Frank, comparing Israel to Nazis & wearing an SS uniform on stage. https://t.co/tbnuDLACcc
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) May 24, 2023
“Roger Waters persists in relying on offensive shock tactics to maintain public attention,” the American Jewish Committee similarly tweeted. “This outrageous antisemitic performance is beyond the pale. It is a shame that event organizers still work with him.”
Roger Waters persists in relying on offensive shock tactics to maintain public attention.
This outrageous antisemitic performance is beyond the pale. It is a shame that event organizers still work with him.https://t.co/KabqaPwrA9
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) May 24, 2023
Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement, “Shame on Frankfurt authorities and Mercedes Benz arena in Berlin for providing anti-Semite Roger Waters this venue for his concert. Jewish community’s concerns be damned… So will Germany prosecute Waters for Holocaust distortion or will promoters rush to book the anti-Semite for more lurid 3-D anti-Israel hate fests masquerading as concerts?”
“[Waters] is comparing Israelis to Nazis and pushing classic #antisemitic tropes of Jews controlling the world,” Creative Community for Peace tweeted. “To do this is disgusting on its own; to do it on German soil is horrific.” They added that Waters has “reached new lows.”
.@rogerwaters has reached new lows.
During his concert in #Berlin, the former Pink Floyd musician disgustingly compares the tragic death of a Palestinian journalist (who died while reporting during a counterterror raid) to the death of Anne Frank (who was one of 6 million… pic.twitter.com/4x3y3VKlI9
— Creative Community for Peace (@CCFPeace) May 24, 2023
The European Jewish Congress tweeted, “Is there anything more antisemitic than using Anne Frank as a prop on a German stage while prancing around in a Nazi uniform attacking Jews?”
Roger Waters gig in Berlin.
Is there anything more antisemitic than using Anne Frank as a prop on a German stage while prancing around in a Nazi uniform attacking Jews? pic.twitter.com/SQUUAAv6Xv
— European Jewish Congress (@eurojewcong) May 24, 2023
Journalist Nicole Lampert tweeted that Waters’ “use of Anne Frank to make his ‘Jews are Nazis’ point was particularly stomach turning. She was a kid murdered in a genocide, not a political play thing.” This tweet was a part of a lengthy Twitter thread about Waters, which concluded with Lampert stating: “Waters likes to say he couldn’t be a Nazi because his dad died fighting them. But as he defends some of the nastiest leaders on the planet and is deliberately grotesque towards Jews, it feels like he’s closer to the thing he professes to hate than perhaps he realises.”
His use of Anne Frank to make his ‘Jews are Nazis’ point was particularly stomach turning. She was a kid murdered in a genocide, not a political play thing. https://t.co/TV3k3Hs6Q2
— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) May 25, 2023
Waters likes to say he couldn’t be a Nazi because his dad died fighting them.
But as he defends some of the nastiest leaders on the planet and is deliberately grotesque towards Jews, it feels like he’s closer to the thing he professes to hate than perhaps he realises. pic.twitter.com/QtEwdvd86t— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) May 25, 2023
This article has been updated.
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