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French education panel advises against Sarkozy's Holocaust studies program By Anshel Pfeffer Tags: Nicolas Sarkozy, Israel  A French Education Ministry committee has recommended against introducing a Holocaust studies program announced four months ago by President Nicolas Sarkozy. The committee recommended this week that pupils learn in general about the fate of French Jewish children during the Holocaust, but that pupils not be required to "adopt" the identity of individual victims. In a speech last February at the annual convention of CRIF, the umbrella organization of Jewish groups in France, Sarkozy said that French pupils must learn about the lives and deaths of 11,000 French Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust. Sarkozy envisioned every sixth grader "adopting" the identify of one of those children and getting to know his or her name and life story. Advertisement But the proposal prompted massive criticism from politicians, educators and also prominent figures in the Jewish community. Critics said it would place an "overly heavy" burden on pupils that age, and might create problems with pupils from Muslim homes, who would demand to study the Palestinian nakba, or catastrophe, as Palestinians term Israel's creation in 1948. Sarkozy responded to the criticism by ordering the appointment of a special committee under the auspices of the Education Ministry, headed by its former minister, Simone Weil, herself an Auschwitz survivor, who is considered close to Sarkozy but was critical of his plan. Other committee members included former Nazi-hunter Serge Klarsfeld and CRIF President Richard Prasquier. In presenting its recommendation this week to France's minister of national education, Xavier Darcos, the committee said it is inappropriate to require 10-year-olds to personally identify with a dead child, and that pupils should instead be taught collective remembrance of the victims, while mentioning the identities of individual children during classroom discussions. Sarkozy is scheduled to visit Israel next week. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Purchase price More consumers are letting their consciences do the shopping. Fighting fear N.Y. mayor urges Jewish voters to denounce Obama Muslim rumors.   1.   Sarkozy should demand that Holocaust studies take 12:02  |  ty 20/06/08   2.   The Vichy Nazi regime 15:08  |  Arie 20/06/08   3.   Royalist plus que le roi 15:41  |  Saba 20/06/08   4.   Another interesting idea from Eastern Europe 18:27  |  AZ 20/06/08   5.   Holocaust Industry will never die 20:50  |  Dav 20/06/08   6.   The Vichy Nazi Regime 22:35  |  louis 20/06/08   7.   Sarkozy`s great plans 00:57  |  herman 21/06/08

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