Calls Mount in Germany for Refugees to be Taken to Nazi Camp Memorials
There are calls in Germany for migrants to be forced to visit Nazi concentration camp memorials. Germany’s Central Council of Jews added its voice to the campaign.
Sawsan Chebli, a Berlin state senator, made the call for newly arrived refugees and migrants to be exposed to the Nazi atrocities to counter what is seen as rising anti-Semitism.
“It makes sense for everyone living in this country to be obliged to visit a concentration camp memorial site at least once in their lives,” Chebli told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
An Israeli flag was burned at recent protests in Germany against the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem. The flag-burning was denounced by the government as shameful and has raised concerns over anti-Semitism that some public figures are connecting to recent refugee arrivals in Germany.
Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews, expressed his support for the mandatory visits for those integrating into German society: “People who have fled to us who have themselves had to escape or been expelled, can develop empathy in such memorials,” he told Deutschlandfunk radio on January 10.
Visits to the Nazi-era death camps are already a core element of German schooling, and those making the call want to see them added to the mandatory integration courses for new arrivals.
So far the German immigration ministry has stopped short of backing the call and has said that a module of the integration course already deals with the consequences of Nazi rule.
Jordan Refugee Response Plan Is One-Third Underfunded
Jordan says its response plan to the refugee crisis is only two-thirds funded. The kingdom, which claims to host 1.3 million Syrians, called on donors to honor their commitments.
The Jordan Response Plan, part of an international deal to open its labor market to Syrian refugees, was only 67 percent funded by the end of 2017.
“We thank those who fulfilled their pledges and ask the others to follow suit,” a government official told the Jordan Times. “Jordan is doing this on behalf of the international community.”
The plan foresees $337.3 million for education, $66.9 million for the energy sector and $272.8 million for social protection. In addition, it allocates $119.2 million for local governance and municipal services, $163.9 million for food security and $243.6 million for water and sanitation projects.
The U.S. is the main donor to the plan, with Germany, the E.U. and the U.K. making up the quartet of leading contributors.
Viral Photo of Syrian Boy Wins Him a Free Gym Membership in Turkey
A Syrian boy has been given lifetime membership of a Turkish gym after a picture of him went viral. The photograph showed the 12-year-old gazing through the window at a gym in Adiyaman, in southeastern Turkey.
A member of the Olympiat Sports Center snapped the daydreaming boy and posted the image on Instagram, where it caught the attention of the gym’s owner, Mustafa Kucukkaya.
Kucukkaya reposted it on his own Instagram, asking for help to find the boy. Days later he was seen shining shoes nearby, according to the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper, and Kucukkaya offered him a free membership.
Photos have followed of Mohammed Hussein, whose family scrapes a living selling scrap paper and metal, working out.
Recommended Reads:
- The Guardian: Rats, Mould and Broken Furniture: The Scandal of the UK’s Refugee Housing
- Pretoria News: Gutteres: Towards a New Global Compact on Migration
- Malawi24: Home Is Not Safe: Rwandan Refugees Ask to Stay
- Variety: Chris Cornell Sings Grammy-Nominated Song, Vows to ‘Keep the Promise’ to Help Refugees in Exclusive Video