The EconomistJuly 27th 2019 Europe 292 accusations that he and his men commit-
ted war crimes, murdering Serbs and Alba-
nians regarded as collaborators or rivals.
He has always denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Haradinaj’s resignation brings a
sense of déjà-vu. In 2005 he resigned 100
days into his first term as prime minister
after being indicted by the United Nations
war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, where
he was incarcerated during his trial. He was
acquitted but the prosecution alleged wit-
ness intimidation, which he denied. The
prosecutors appealed and he stood trial
again, only to be acquitted once more. In
2017 he was arrested in France on a Serbian
warrant and held there for almost four
months. The French then released him; his
arrest boosted his popularity at home.
On July 24th Mr Haradinaj was ques-
tioned in a special Kosovo court, which was
set up with international staff in The
Hague after a report for the Council of Eu-
rope in 2010 accused several former Koso-
var guerrillas of having committed war
crimes. In the report Mr Haradinaj is men-
tioned only in a footnote but Hashim
Thaci, Kosovo’s president, is prominent.
The two have long been rivals. Over the
past year Mr Thaci has discussed a poten-
tial deal with Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s
president, which could involve giving up
the Serb-inhabited northern part of Kosovo
in exchange for an Albanian-inhabited part
of south Serbia. Mr Haradinaj argues this
would destabilise the whole region. Last
November Serbia successfully prevented
Kosovo, which it does not recognise, from
joining Interpol for a third time. Mr Haradi-
naj took revenge by imposing a 100% tariff
on Serbian imports, and Serbia suspended
talks. With Serbian elections due next year
they are unlikely to restart until after.
Just because he has been called to an-
swer questions in The Hague does not nec-
essarily mean Mr Haradinaj will be indict-
ed, says Jeta Xharra, a leading Kosovar
journalist. Many speculate that the prose-
cutors are calling up lots of former senior
guerrillas, hoping to break one. But, says
Ms Xharra, given the untribunal tried Mr
Haradinaj twice and failed to convict him,
it is unlikely that this court will succeed.
For now Mr Haradinaj stays as acting
prime minister. It is doubtful a new gov-
ernment can be cobbled together, so elec-
tions will probably take place in the au-
tumn. Mr Haradinaj is a past master at
snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
Despite his promises Kosovars still cannot
travel to the Schengen zone without visas
(although Kosovo has fulfilled European
demands). He has doubled his salary even
as the country remains isolated and poor.
But with his decision to go to The Hague he
has turned the electoral spotlight back to
the war. Ardian Gjini, a close ally, says that,
not for the first time, a challenge has given
him “political wings”. 7
R
unning europe’s largest Jewish muse-
um in Germany, where the shadows of
the past require a special sensitivity, is one
of the most demanding jobs in the muse-
um world. It requires outstanding scholar-
ship, tact, managerial talent, fundraising
savvy and the ability to deal with a wide
range of interested parties, from the federal
government (which provides most of the
money), scholars of Judaism and the public
at large to the German Jewish community
and the Israeli government. Each group has
its own strongly held idea about the role of
the Jewish Museum Berlin (jmb).
Peter Schäfer, an internationally re-
nowned expert on ancient Jewish history,
did remarkably on most of these fronts
after taking over in 2014 as director of the
jmb, but his leadership repeatedly came
under fire from Binyamin Netanyahu’s
government. At the end of June Mr Schäfer
offered his resignation to Monika Grütters,
Germany’s culture minister, “to prevent
further damage” to the jmb.
At the end of last year the Israeli prime
minister asked Angela Merkel, the German
chancellor, to cut the museum’s funding.
He claimed its exhibition “Welcome to Je-
rusalem” (which was so popular that it was
extended by a year) reflected “mainly the
Muslim-Palestinian perspective” of the
city. Mr Schäfer subsequently ruffled feath-
ers when he met a cultural attaché from
Iran at the museum.
The final straw was a tweet promoted as
a “must read” in early June from the muse-
um’s Twitter account sharing an article
from taz, a left-wing daily. The tweet ap-peared to criticise a resolution of the Bun-
destag, Germany’s lower house of parlia-
ment, which condemned the campaign for
boycotts, divestments and sanctions (bds)
against Israel as anti-Semitic. In response,
Charles Kaufman, president of B’nai B’rith
International, a Jewish advocacy organisa-
tion, claimed thejmbought to be “renamed
the Insult to Injury Museum”. Josef Schus-
ter, leader of the Central Council of Jews in
Germany, wondered if the jmbcould still
call itself “Jewish”.
Mr Schäfer was due to retire next May,
just after opening the new permanent ex-
hibition and the new children’s museum,
which were conceived under his steward-
ship. By all accounts he took the museum’s
mission statement literally and made it “a
vibrant centre of reflection on Jewish his-
tory and culture as well as about migration
and diversity in Germany”. Last year the
museum had almost 700,000 visitors, who
sometimes queued for hours to get in. The
exhibition “Golem”, about the myth of arti-
ficial life, was his idea. Another of his origi-
nal exhibitions was “Snip It!”, which ex-
plored circumcision and its controversy.
Many of Mr Schäfer’s supporters believe
that he should have weathered the storm.
Fifty scholars of the Talmud signed a letter
in his support. Another 322 international
academics put their names to a statement
demanding “a public apology to him from
those who have spread lies about him”. (Mr
Schäfer was falsely portrayed as a sympa-
thiser of bds). And 58 museum profession-
als from 14 countries penned a letter to ex-
press concerns about his treatment.
Nearly everyone agrees that it would
help for the next director to be a Jew. (Mr
Schäfer is Catholic.) Candidates can apply
until September 1st, explains Martin Mi-
chaelis, who is managing the museum un-
til the new director is appointed. The ap-
pointment should happen by the spring.
Whoever gets it will need all the talent Mr
Schäfer had, with a little more diplomatic
skill—and a much thicker skin. 7BERLIN
An institution devoted to Jewish life
has fallen out with many JewsJews and GermanyFight at the
museum
The golems are fine at least