FRANKFURT – The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial said on May 28 that it will open its first educational centre outside Israel in Munich, the German city where the Nazi party was founded.
The centre is intended to expand Yad Vashem’s work to Germany and neighbouring countries “at a critical time in which the relativisation, instrumentalisation or denial of the Holocaust, as well as anti-semitism, are on the rise”, said Mr Dani Dayan, chairman of the organisation.
Due to open within three years, the new hub will draw on Yad Vashem’s “expertise in remembrance, documentation and education… to achieve the widest possible paedagogical reach and impact”, the organisation said in a statement.
The southern German city of Munich was chosen as the location partly because of its “profound symbolic significance” as the city where the Nazi party was founded, it added.
A smaller satellite centre is also planned in Leipzig in eastern Germany.
Presenting plans for the new centre in 2025, Mr Dayan said it would be used partly for the training of teachers.
The idea of establishing a Holocaust education centre in Germany emerged in 2023 at a meeting between Mr Dayan and then-chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to Yad Vashem.
Germany has long had a close alliance with Israel as it has sought to atone for the murder of six million Jews in the World War II Holocaust.
German leaders, including Chancellor Friedrich Merz, have remained staunch supporters of Israel at a time of mounting international condemnation of its conduct in Gaza. AFP
