JERUSALEM (JTA) — A German fund established to compensate victims of forced labor under the Nazis sponsored a project that produced anti-Semitic propaganda.
The Memory, Responsibility and Future Fund, which was established 11 years ago, sponsored a student exchange program between high school students in Nazareth and eastern Germany. The students prepared a booklet full of anti-Semitic propaganda and drawings at the end of the program, the Israeli daily newspaper Yediot Achronot reported.
The booklet was billed as an attempt to compare the educational rights of young Germans and Israeli Arabs. Instead, it questioned Israel’s right to exist, according to the newspaper.
The fund, a joint effort of German industry and government, was established after international pressure forced large German industrial companies to agree to compensate Jewish and non-Jewish forced laborers during World War II.
Most of the funds have been allotted to "projects commemorating Nazi victims, maintaining human rights and understanding between nations." But two months ago, the fund also financed a "birthright trip" to Israel for a group of Palestinians living in Germany, Yediot reported.
