(Gatestone Institute) Soeren Kern - A debate has erupted in Germany over whether Muslim students should be exempted from mandatory visits to former concentration camps as part of Holocaust education programs. A proposal by the Free Voters party in the state of Bavaria would require students in all secondary schools to visit Holocaust memorials as part of the school curriculum. The governing Christian Social Union's Klaus Steiner explained his opposition: "We have immigrants and the children of asylum seekers. Among them are many children from Muslim families who have no connection to our past and who will need much more time before they can identify with our history. We need to be careful about how we address this issue with these children." The Simon Wiesenthal Center's director for international relations, Shimon Samuels, contrasted the CSU's stance with the federal government's $22.5 million investment plan to create Centers of Islamic Theology at four major German universities. The writer is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and at the Madrid-based Strategic Studies Group.
2015-06-12 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive