Yad Vashem is planning an education center in Germany: NRW is the focus of the decision!

Yad Vashem is planning an education center in Germany: NRW is the focus of the decision!

The Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem has big plans for Germany: an education center on the Shoah is to be built, and quickly. A decision on the location will soon be made, as delegations are scheduled to visit possible locations in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Saxony in the first half of December. This was underlined by Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan, who vehemently advocates that the center must have a nationwide significance.

The course for the project was laid in a recent meeting with a delegation from the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, which was currently on a solidarity visit to Israel. The head of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Chancellery, Nathanael Liminski (CDU), was also recently in Israel and reiterated his support for the project. Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Dani Dayan have also signed an agreement that ensures continued cooperation between NRW and Yad Vashem.

A symbol against anti-Semitism

A central concern of anti-Semitism officer Sylvia Löhrmann (Greens) is to include the population in the planning of the education center and to represent the entire society. She emphasizes that the center should be important not only for Jews, but for all citizens in Germany.

Why North Rhine-Westphalia? One reason is the existing networks of memorial sites and Jewish schools. Vice President Abraham Lehrer of the Central Council of Jews also emphasizes the federal state's central location and large population. These factors could give the center a prominent place in the German education and remembrance system.

The basic idea for the Yad Vashem memorial in Germany originated four years ago. The federal government, both the Union and the SPD, supported the establishment of a Yad Vashem Education Center in Germany in the coalition agreement. The focus of the center will be the confrontation with the National Socialist reign of crime and the singularity of the Shoah.

A look into the past

The Shoah, known as the Holocaust, describes the systematic murder of approximately six million Jewish people during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis and their accomplices were responsible for murdering two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. This was carried out with mass shootings and in extermination camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.

Such an educational center could help keep awareness of this dark time in history alive. The President of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament, André Kuper, has already set an example by laying a wreath for the victims of National Socialism in the “Hall of Remembrance”. During his visit to Israel, he also met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to reiterate NRW's solidarity in the ongoing conflict with Hamas.

Overall, it is clear that the construction of the Yad Vashem Education Center in Germany is not only an important step in remembering the victims of the Holocaust, but also sends a strong signal against anti-Semitism and any form of discrimination today.