Professor George Eckert, director of the International School Book Institute, at Brunswick, rejected here today foreign criticism of German textbooks, accused of being”easy” on the Nazi past. He refuted particularly such criticisms in the United States. Modern German teachers, he said, can look without bias at Nazi atrocities and anti-Semitic tendencies, and give youth “a sober” accounting.
Speaking at the United States Embassy, here, on the invitation of Embassy officials, Professor Eckert declared that the younger generation of German teachers are familiar with the Nazi era and teach it in their schools. He said that, in addition to 20 basic history books supplied to German schools, there are “hundreds” of supplementary textbooks available.
Professor Eckert’s institute examines all textbooks for German schools. To make sure that the books handle the subject of Nazism thoroughly, he said, advance copies of all such books are sent to the United States, France and Britain for scrutiny by scholars. He invited American critics of German education to come here and “see for themselves.”
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