The University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain is planning to hold a seminar titled "Auschwitz/Gaza: A testing ground for comparative literature," with readings from iconic figures such as Primo Levi. It will be held by Prof. César Domínguez in the 2021-2022 academic year.
The Jewish human rights and Holocaust research organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), released on Monday a letter addressed to the Spanish Minister of Universities, Manual Castells Oliván, speaking out against the seminar, stating it is an "exercise in hate" and that the "expected content is not an issue of ‘freedom of expression’, but a banalization of the Holocaust, which can incite to hatred and violence against Jews of today.”
They also state that it is "an insult to Spanish republicans deported to the Nazi death camps." Simon Wiesenthal himself met many of these Spanish republicans during his imprisonment at the Mauthausen concentration camp.
The city of Santiago de Compostela is known for being the burial place of St. James, an apostle of Jesus Christ, with thousands making pilgrimages there each year.
The seminar is still scheduled to go ahead, and there has been no response to SWC's letter.