Survivors' Group Lauds Germany
January 25, 2012
New York (JTA) -- A U.S.-based group of Holocaust survivors is commending Germany on its determination to fight "deep-rooted" anti-Semitism at home.
The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants in a statement issued Monday said they were "deeply shaken by the extent of anti-Semitism" revealed in a 188-page report formally presented Monday to the Bundestag as Germany marks two important anniversaries -- 70 years since the infamous Wannsee Conference, where the genocide was mapped out, and 67 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. The survivors' group commended the authorities for "honestly exposing and confronting the scope of the problem."
The report by Germany's nine-member panel of experts, completed in November, indicated that about 20 percent of the German population holds strongly anti-Semitic views. The report also looks at best practices in combating the problem. The expert panel was established in mid-2009 by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and charged with reporting regularly on anti-Semitism and efforts to fight it in Germany.
The report recommends that Germany invest more funds in programs to study and combat the problem.