BERLIN (JTA) — The American Jewish Committee’s Berlin office launched a democracy-building curriculum to mark 20 years of German unification.
At a news conference Sept. 28 announcing the completion of the “Hands for Kids” curriculum, AJC Berlin director Deidre Berger said the program — tested in seven schools in Berlin and Brandenburg — is designed to strengthen "values-based democracy [education] for elementary school students." The program’s partners include a number of regional education authorities.
Berger said the new curriculum is designed to combat xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes that studies show continue to plague Germany.
The program stresses hands-on leadership training, interaction with community and family, and interactive education in all grades and all subjects. The curriculum will be available free to schools throughout Germany, according to Rouven Sperling, coordinator for educational projects at the AJC office in Berlin.
Democracy training continues to be much in demand in Germany two decades after the former communist East Germany officially was dissolved. The anniversary of German unification is marked Oct. 3.
"Hands" is based on the "Hands Across the Campus" program introduced by the AJC in 1981 in Los Angeles following the so-called race riots.
