HOLOCAUST | 15.10.2010

Council of Jews welcomes Hitler exhibition

The exhibit does not glorify or excuse Hitler

One of Germany's leading Jewish organizations has praised a controversial new exhibit that examines the relationship between Hitler and the German people. The exhibit opened Friday in Berlin.

Germany's Central Council of Jews on Friday welcomed a new exhibition on Hitler and the Germans, saying the exhibit did not glorify or excuse the Nazi leader.

"The exhibition is going in the right direction, it is dealing seriously with the issue and I don't think there is a danger of any form of glorification," Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews, told the German press agency DPA.

The exhibition "Hitler and the Germans - Nation and Crime" opened Friday at the German Historical Museum in Berlin. The exhibition breaks with tradition by focusing on the cult of personality surrounding Hitler and its impact on the German people during the Nazi period.

Integation parallels

Kramer also cautioned that there were similarities between the pre-Hitler political climate and the current debate over integration in Germany.

"You can certainly recognize parallels between the debate taking place today and what happened before Hitler came to power," Kramer said, adding that in both cases insecurities pushed the middle classes toward populist right-wing ideologies.

A recent study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation found that one in three Germans thinks there are too many foreigners in the country.

Germany is home to more than 14 million people with foreign roots.

Author: Sarah Harman (dpa, AP)
Editor: Martin Kuebler

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