The German government agreed to provide Yad Vashem with €5 million per year until 2030 for Holocaust research and education, a commitment to be formalized at a Tuesday signing ceremony.
The agreement will replace an older one agreed upon in 2020, in which Germany committed to providing €1 million annually until 2031.
Under the new agreement, Germany will reduce the contributions back to €1 million per year in 2031.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul is visiting Israel on Tuesday in order to sign the agreement, as a guest of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
Following the signing of the agreement, it will be brought to the floor of the Knesset and later approved by the government.
In May, Yad Vashem announced plans to open an educational center in Munich and a satellite branch in Leipzig, its first permanent facilities outside Israel.
A day later, former Israeli educator and Jewish intellectual Meron Mendel raised concerns over Yad Vashem’s planned expansion into Germany, warning in comments to German media that the Holocaust memorial institution’s educational work could be “influenced by Israel’s far Right government.”
His criticism was echoed by Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorial Foundation, who questioned how the decision to establish the German branches had been reached.
Tobias Siegal contributed to this report.
Source:
www.jpost.com
