Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 2, 2008 10:53:13 AM CST

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Critics Blast Sarkozy's Holocaust School Plan

Posted Feb 16, 08 12:53 PM CST in Crime & Courts,  World 

(Newser) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sparked a new controversy: The maverick leader is  now defending his plan to have every fifth grader study a French youth killed in the Holocaust. Critics, including Jewish analysts, warn the move could traumatize students. But one historian applauded Sarkozy's "courage" and said what children "see on television or in a horror film is much worse."

The students would be “entrusted with the memory of a French child-victim of the Holocaust,” Sarkozy said, but one philosopher called the plan “truly obscene" and added, “Every day the president throws out a new unhappy idea with no coherence.” Critics also blasted Sarkozy’s religious defense of the plan as a threat to France's church-state divide, the New York Times reports.

Source New York Times

1 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy looks at photos of deported Jews in Europe during WW II, during his visit to the Shoah Memorial, or Holocaust Memorial in Paris last year. Sarkozy on Friday defended...   (Associated Press)
President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday defended a plan to require 10-year-olds to honor child victims of the Holocaust, saying adults should not hide terrible truths from children, the AP reports. "We must...   (Associated Press)
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's rankled psychologists worried about traumatizing youth and has teachers reviving debates about how France remembers World War II. But Sarkozy stood firmly by the plan...   (Associated Press)
French Education Minister Xavier Darcos, right, explained later that the aim of Sarkozy's plan was to "create an identification between a child of today and one of the same age who was deported and gassed."...   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (
1
 of 2)

Tags

Israel • France • Nicolas Sarkozy • religion • education • Nazi • Jews • Catholicism • Holocaust • anti-Semitism • separation of church and state


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Other World Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser a team of editors and writers culls the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. It's the Newser guarantee: we can take any report or column or video and pack what you need to know into 120 words or less. Newser's short-form aggregation, visual format, and unique information tools help you get more of the kind of news you want, in a quicker and more entertaining way. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »