A French panel rejected President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to get schoolchildren to identify with Holocaust victims.
The Education Ministry panel, headed by Simone Weil, a Holocaust survivor and former education minister, was convened after Sarkozy’s proposal in February that sixth graders adopt the story of a French child murdered during the Holocaust stirred controversy. Critics said the proposal would be overly burdensome for 11-year-olds.
The Weil committee this week recommended that general education about the Holocaust include mentioning the names of victims, Ha’aretz reported, but concluded that personal identification would be inappropriate.