In 2019, the Bundestag determined that the BDS movement was anti-Semitic in its arguments and methods and discriminated against Israeli citizens of the Jewish faith as a collective. As a result, Parliament called for, among other things, no financial support for organizations that question Israel's right to exist and no financial support for projects that call for a boycott of Israel or actively support the BDS movement.

However, the BDS resolution is a “simple parliamentary resolution”, a political statement by parliament that is purely symbolic and not legally binding. The Federal Administrative Court considers the implementation of the resolution to be an unjustified infringement of freedom of expression (BVerwG, 22.1.2022). The Zeppelin Museum takes the BDS resolution of the German Bundestag seriously and rejects the aims and methods of the BDS campaign. At the same time, we are aware that implementation of the BDS resolution will lead to legal problems.

Accordingly, we are guided by the following three principles when selecting national and international cooperation partners and artists:

When designing exhibitions and programmes, we ensure that any form of boycott (including “silent boycott”) of Israel or Israeli artists does not take place.
We do not tolerate any discriminatory, anti-Semitic, racist or inhuman content in our exhibitions, artistic projects or accompanying programs.
The separation between work and artist is important to us. For democratic reasons, we reject any examination of the views of artists and project partners (e.g. with regard to a possible “proximity” to BDS).

Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen, the 1st of June 2024

Position on the BDS campaign