AJC Urges German Foundation to Expand Programs on Anti-Semitism, Israel
“A foundation that was initiated by the German government and industry to honor the lives of millions of Nazi slave and forced laborers should give priority to initiatives that promote good relations with Israel and fight modern forms of anti-Semitism,” said Deidre Berger, Director of AJC Berlin Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations. “Unfortunately, programs combating anti-Semitism constitute an extremely small part of the foundation’s annual program. And some programs, reflecting a skewed human rights agenda, may do more harm than good.”
As part of its “Europeans for Peace program,” the foundation recently funded a human rights project on education linking a school in the former communist part of eastern Germany and an Israeli Arab school in Nazareth. Documentation from the program, which encouraged students to critique the Israeli education system, includes stereotyped drawings of Israel that some have called anti-Semitic as well as texts that compare the repression of the former East German communist government with the democratic government of Israel.
Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC Director of International Jewish Affairs, who serves as a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, has urged its directors to review and eliminate any support for such questionable projects. “I fully expect that there will be a thorough discussion about this when the board meets in December,” said Rabbi Baker. “The reputation of the EVZ Stiftung hangs in the balance.”
The foundation was created in 2000 with a contribution of 5 billion euros by the German government and German industry for the primary purpose of making symbolic compensation payments to former slave and forced laborers. A small portion of those funds were set aside as an endowment for educational projects.
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