Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research
Encyclopedia
The Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF) is an inter-governmental organization established in 1998. The organisation's mandate is founded upon the principles laid out by the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust. The stated aims of the ITF are to mobilize and coordinate political and social leaders' support for Holocaust education, remembrance, and research at national and international levels. In 2007, the ITF expanded its thematic mandate to include the genocide
of the Roma and other topics, such as genocide prevention and combating anti-Semitism
.
. Following a Swedish survey in 1997 that revealed that many schoolchildren were not convinced about the Holocaust, and affected by his personal experience of visiting the site of the former Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg
, Prime Minister Persson decided to launch a debate in parliament about Holocaust education in Sweden. This resulted in the Swedish information campaign entitled Levande Historia (Living History). Realising that 'the fight against ignorance about the Holocaust called for an international partnership' Persson also took steps towards establishing an international organization to expand Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide. He wrote to then US President Bill Clinton
and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
, asking for their support. The first meeting of the new body took place in May 1998. Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer
took on the role of academic advisor. In 1998, Germany
and Israel
joined the initiative, followed in 1999 by the Netherlands
, Poland
, France
and Italy
. By 2007, a further sixteen countries had joined. Membership of the ITF today stands at 27 countries, with a further 7 countries as Liaision or Observer States. The ITF has recently formalised its relations with the Council of Europe
.
was invited to head the academic committee, while Nobel Prize laureate Professor Elie Wiesel
was asked to become the Honorary Chairman of the forum. A joint declaration was unanimously adopted. The Stockholm Declaration emphasizes the importance of upholding the "terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it," and of preserving the memory of the Holocaust as a "touchstones in our understanding of the human capacity for good and evil." According to the declaration, it is the responsibility of the international community to combat genocide
, ethnic cleansing
, racism
, anti-Semitism
and xenophobia
.
The official language of the ITF is English.
); the Academic Advisor (currently Prof. Dina Porat
) and the Troika composed of the former chair, the current chair, and the incoming chair. Israel will hold the chairmanship until March 2011. The Netherlands will then assume the chairmanship; it has appointed Ambassador Karel de Beer as Chairman. Belgium will take the chairmanship in 2012.
Academic Working Group
The Academic Working Group (AWG) was established in 2000. It is concerned with promoting Holocaust research, increasing accessibility to and organizing research into archives; managing academic projects such as the publication and translation of scholarly books; and organizing university-level Holocaust study programs and international conferences of experts. Recently, the AWG was instrumental in opening the International Tracing Service
archives in Bad Arolson, which contains some 70 million pages of documents relating to the fate of over 17 million victims of World War II.
Education Working Group
The Education Working Group (EWG) was established in 2001. The EWG provides support and advice on matters of educational best practices; assists with teacher training through existing institutions and new projects initiated by host countries; and makes available the practical expertise of Task Force member states to any partner that requests support in Holocaust-related educational activities. The EWG has established pedagogical guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust in the ITF’s twenty-seven member countries. The EWG has also implemented hundreds of teacher training programs around the world, especially in Eastern Europe.
Memorials and Museums Working Group
The Memorials and Museums Working Group (MMWG) was established in 2002. The MMWG helps to mobilize support and expertise for Holocaust memorials and related places of memory in keeping with the Stockholm Declaration. It collects information on memorials and establishes databases as a foundation for this work. It explores how the preservation of memorials may be ensured in perpetuity; promotes communication and exchange between memorial sites and museums and encourages the use of memorial sites and institutions for professional engagement, training, and development. The MMWG has succeeded in establishing an international network to exchange information, experience and best practices in cultures of remembrance in memorials and museums. This network continues to expand, with plans for annual conferences, workshops and other forms of cooperation. The MMWG has also contributed to the development of two websites established by the Topography of Terror
Foundation (Berlin). The website Cultures of Remembrance provides a basis for international dialogue about different forms of remembrance and commemoration. The website Memorial Museums provides an overview of the world’s most important memorials, monuments, museums and other institutions that commemorate the victims of National Socialist persecution. The ITF was also instrumental in campaigning against the destruction of the site of the former Gusen Concentration Camp in Austria, which will now be preserved as a memorial.
Communication Working Group
The Communication Working Group (CWG) provides the public with information about the Task Force and the its projects, as well as on developments in Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide. It also ensures efficient communication among the members of the Task Force and its Working Groups.
. Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
, chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has challenged Norway's chairmanship of the Task Force on the grounds that "this country is unfit to hold such a position when in the same year it has held major memorial activities for the Nazi-admirer Hamsun." On July 20, 2009, the Norwegian chair published a statement rejecting the accusations against it, and promising to continue the ITF's efforts to combat anti-Semitism and promote Holocaust education. In an article for the Jerusalem Post, Yehuda Bauer
defended the Norwegian chairmanship, stressing Norway's commitment to Holocaust education, while at the same time acknowledging the continuing presence of anti-Semitism in Norway and elsewhere: 'The arguments against Norway would be more credible if the Norwegians did not admit that there is anti-Semitism in Norway, that they ignored or wanted to bury Hamsun's pro-Nazi stand or that they hampered ITF's work in fighting anti-Semitism in any way. Not only is none of this true, but it was the Norwegian chairman that, before this controversy exploded, insisted on including the fight against anti-Semitism as a central component in the ITF's immediate future program - the proposal was accepted by acclamation.' Bauer also made the point that for Norway, the commemoration of Hamsun also represented an occasion for Holocaust education: 'The Norwegians believe the contrast between the work of a brilliant and universally-acclaimed author, and his personality as a pro-Nazi, is an occasion for educational efforts.'
On 21 December 2010 The Guardian newspaper published a news article based on US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks about the failure of negotiations:
Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two at the American embassy to the Vatican, reported in October 2009, that the plans "had fallen apart completely … due to Vatican back-pedaling". She thought this might indicate that the Vatican "may ... be pulling back due to concerns about ITF pressure to declassify records from the WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII". As The Guardian article explains, Pius XII has long been a controversial figure for his failure to publicly denounce the Holocaust in 1941-21 when first informed about it. Noyes reported that only six or eight researchers were working on the 16m documents, stored in hundreds of crates, that are left over from Pius XII's papacy. It had earlier taken a team of four Jesuits, working full time, 17 years to produce 12 volumes of his diplomatic correspondence.
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
of the Roma and other topics, such as genocide prevention and combating anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
Mandate
The work of the ITF is organized into three core thematic areas: education, remembrance and research. In the field of education, the ITF states that it seeks to improve Holocaust education in its member states and beyond, through teacher training programs and curricula development and through the promotion of study trips to former concentration camps and other Holocaust-related sites. With regards to remembrance, the ITF emphasizes the importance of the Holocaust as part of the collective memory of contemporary and future societies, focusing in particular on cultural forms of remembrance and commemoration such as memorials, museums, monuments and historical sites related to the Holocaust, as well as on national Holocaust remembrance days and the UN designated annual international day of commemoration of the Holocaust on 27 January. In the area of research, the ITF aims to facilitate academic research in the field of Holocaust Studies through the opening of Holocaust related archives and the development of international Holocaust research networks.History
The ITF was founded in 1998 at the initiative of the then Swedish Prime Minister Göran PerssonGöran Persson
Hans Göran Persson was the Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Conceding defeat in the September 2006 general election, he announced that he would resign as party leader, and Mona Sahlin was elected to succeed him as...
. Following a Swedish survey in 1997 that revealed that many schoolchildren were not convinced about the Holocaust, and affected by his personal experience of visiting the site of the former Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Prime Minister Persson decided to launch a debate in parliament about Holocaust education in Sweden. This resulted in the Swedish information campaign entitled Levande Historia (Living History). Realising that 'the fight against ignorance about the Holocaust called for an international partnership' Persson also took steps towards establishing an international organization to expand Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide. He wrote to then US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, asking for their support. The first meeting of the new body took place in May 1998. Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
took on the role of academic advisor. In 1998, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
joined the initiative, followed in 1999 by the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. By 2007, a further sixteen countries had joined. Membership of the ITF today stands at 27 countries, with a further 7 countries as Liaision or Observer States. The ITF has recently formalised its relations with the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
.
The Stockholm Declaration
The year 2000 saw a major development in the ITF: the adoption of the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which serves as the founding document of the organization as an IGO. On January 29, 2000, the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust was attended by 23 Heads of State or Prime Ministers, and 14 deputy Prime Ministers or Ministers from 46 governments. Yehuda BauerYehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
was invited to head the academic committee, while Nobel Prize laureate Professor Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
was asked to become the Honorary Chairman of the forum. A joint declaration was unanimously adopted. The Stockholm Declaration emphasizes the importance of upholding the "terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it," and of preserving the memory of the Holocaust as a "touchstones in our understanding of the human capacity for good and evil." According to the declaration, it is the responsibility of the international community to combat genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
.
Organizational structure
The ITF is an inter-governmental organization consisting of twenty-eight Member States, three Liaison Countries and three Observer Countries. Member State delegations are chaired by ambassadors or other officials of a senior rank within the government. Non Governmental Organizations are part of the delegations and nominated by them, serving as their experts. The national delegations convene at biannual Plenary meetings, the first in Spring/Summer, the second in Fall/Winter, taking place in the chairing country. At these meetings the diplomats decide upon the policies recommended for implementation by the Working Groups.Membership
| Member State | Year Joined | Chairmanship | Name of Chair |
|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina |
2002 | n/a | n/a |
 Austria |
2001 | 2008 | Ambassador Ferdinand Trauttsmansdorff |
 Belgium |
2005 | n/a | n/a |
 Canada |
2009 | n/a | n/a |
 Independent State of Croatia |
2005 | n/a | n/a |
 Czech Republic |
2002 | 2007 | Ambassador Milos Pojar |
 Denmark |
2004 | n/a | n/a |
 Estonia |
2007 | n/a | Aino Lepik von Wirén, Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the State of Israel |
 Finland |
2010 | n/a | n/a |
 Early Modern France |
1999 | 2002 | Norbert Engel/Ambassador Patrick Amiot |
 Germany |
1998 | 2000 | Ambassador Albert Spiegel |
 Greece |
2005 | n/a | n/a |
 Hungary |
2002 | 2006 | Balint Magyar Bálint Magyar Bálint Magyar is a Hungarian politician, who served as Minister of Education between 1996–1998 and between 2002–2006... |
 Israel |
1998 | 1999, 2010 | Shmuel Ben Shmuel, Dan Tichon Dan Tichon Dan Tichon is a former Israeli politician and Speaker of the Knesset 1996 - 1999.-Background:Born in Kiryat Haim during the Mandate era, Tichon served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces before graduating with an economics and international relations degree from the Hebrew University of... |
 Italy |
1999 | 2004 | Ambassador Giorgio Franchetti Pardo |
 Latvia |
2004 | n/a | n/a |
 Lithuania |
2002 | n/a | n/a |
 Luxembourg |
2003 | n/a | n/a |
 Netherlands |
1999 | 2001, 2011 | Ambassador Rienko Wilton/Ambassador Frederick Racke, Ambassador Karel de Beer |
 Norway |
2003 | 2009 | Ambassador Tom Vraalsen |
 Poland |
1999 | 2005 | Daria Nalecz |
 Kingdom of Romania |
2004 | n/a | n/a |
 Slovakia |
2005 | n/a | n/a |
 Spain |
2008 | n/a | n/a |
 Sweden |
1998 | 2000 | Ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson |
 Switzerland |
2004 | n/a | n/a |
 United Kingdom |
1998 | 1999 | Ambassador Sir Andrew Burns |
 United States |
1998 | 2003 | Ambassador Randolph Bell/Ambassador Edward O'Donnell Jr. |
Membership Criteria
Members States must be committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, and must accept the principles adopted by the Task Force regarding membership. Member States must be committed to the implementation of national policies and programs in support of Holocaust education, remembrance, and research. Countries that are not yet full members of the ITF may participate in the following capacities:- Observer Country: Country having officially declared its intention to join the Task Force.
- Liaison Country: Former Observer Country in the process of becoming a Member Country.
- Special Guest: Country or NGO temporarily invited by the Chair of the Task Force to participate in the meetings.
- Permanent Observers: International Organizations with the status of observers. They can actively participate in the meetings of the working groups. The Permanent Observers to the ITF include: the Council of EuropeCouncil of EuropeThe Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
; the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency; the OSCE and the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. The Claims ConferenceClaims ConferenceThe Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs...
, as the preeminent negotiator for indemnification claims on behalf of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, has also been granted Permanent Observer status.
- The ITF also collaborates with a number of affiliated organisations, often NGOs or other institutions selected as expert representatives by the Member States in which they are active.
| Country | Status |
|---|---|
 Republic of Macedonia |
Observer |
 Republic of Ireland |
Liaison |
 Portugal |
Observer |
 Serbia |
Liaison |
 Slovenia |
Liaison |
 Turkey |
Observer |
The official language of the ITF is English.
Rotating Chairmanship
The ITF functions through a system of voluntary chairmanship rotating annually between member states. Each country organizes and pays for the meetings taking place in the year of their chairmanship. The Chair is supported by the Secretariat; the Honorary Chairman (Prof. Yehuda BauerYehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
); the Academic Advisor (currently Prof. Dina Porat
Dina Porat
Dina Porat is a professor at Tel Aviv University. She is head of the Chaim Rosenberg School for Jewish Studies and of the Stephen Roth Institute and holds the Alfred P. Slaner Chair for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism. She is also a member of the Yad Vashem Scientific Advisory...
) and the Troika composed of the former chair, the current chair, and the incoming chair. Israel will hold the chairmanship until March 2011. The Netherlands will then assume the chairmanship; it has appointed Ambassador Karel de Beer as Chairman. Belgium will take the chairmanship in 2012.
Secretariat
The Secretariat of the ITF was inaugurated in March 2008 and is based in Berlin. Headed by the Executive Secretary, the Secretariat plays an important role in the coordination of ITF activities by providing advice and assistance to the Chair and Member State delegations, to candidate countries, to the Working Groups, and to project funding applicants. The Secretariat also handles external enquiries and coordinates the day-to-day operations of the organization.Working Groups
The Task Force has established a number of Working Groups, consisting of government representatives and other experts from each member state who work together to develop ITF policy as well as to assess proposals for project funding. There are four core Working Groups:Academic Working Group
The Academic Working Group (AWG) was established in 2000. It is concerned with promoting Holocaust research, increasing accessibility to and organizing research into archives; managing academic projects such as the publication and translation of scholarly books; and organizing university-level Holocaust study programs and international conferences of experts. Recently, the AWG was instrumental in opening the International Tracing Service
International Tracing Service
The International Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen, Germany, is the internationally governed archive whose task it is to document the fate of millions of civilian victims of Nazi Germany. The documents in the ITS archives include original records from concentration camps, details of forced labour,...
archives in Bad Arolson, which contains some 70 million pages of documents relating to the fate of over 17 million victims of World War II.
Education Working Group
The Education Working Group (EWG) was established in 2001. The EWG provides support and advice on matters of educational best practices; assists with teacher training through existing institutions and new projects initiated by host countries; and makes available the practical expertise of Task Force member states to any partner that requests support in Holocaust-related educational activities. The EWG has established pedagogical guidelines for teaching about the Holocaust in the ITF’s twenty-seven member countries. The EWG has also implemented hundreds of teacher training programs around the world, especially in Eastern Europe.
Memorials and Museums Working Group
The Memorials and Museums Working Group (MMWG) was established in 2002. The MMWG helps to mobilize support and expertise for Holocaust memorials and related places of memory in keeping with the Stockholm Declaration. It collects information on memorials and establishes databases as a foundation for this work. It explores how the preservation of memorials may be ensured in perpetuity; promotes communication and exchange between memorial sites and museums and encourages the use of memorial sites and institutions for professional engagement, training, and development. The MMWG has succeeded in establishing an international network to exchange information, experience and best practices in cultures of remembrance in memorials and museums. This network continues to expand, with plans for annual conferences, workshops and other forms of cooperation. The MMWG has also contributed to the development of two websites established by the Topography of Terror
Topography of Terror
The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum in Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is located in Niederkirchnerstrasse, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the principal...
Foundation (Berlin). The website Cultures of Remembrance provides a basis for international dialogue about different forms of remembrance and commemoration. The website Memorial Museums provides an overview of the world’s most important memorials, monuments, museums and other institutions that commemorate the victims of National Socialist persecution. The ITF was also instrumental in campaigning against the destruction of the site of the former Gusen Concentration Camp in Austria, which will now be preserved as a memorial.
Communication Working Group
The Communication Working Group (CWG) provides the public with information about the Task Force and the its projects, as well as on developments in Holocaust education, remembrance, and research worldwide. It also ensures efficient communication among the members of the Task Force and its Working Groups.
Project Funding
The ITF has provided financial support to projects related to its mandate fields. The organisation's current Grant Strategy includes two programmes: 1) Develop strategies for Holocaust Memorial Days in a way that injects substance, real meaning and educational value into these events; and 2) Raise awareness and promote research into the causes of the Holocaust, its driving forces and mechanism, with a view to preventing genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia. The Grant Programme places an emphasis on multilateral projects, seeking to stimulate the international exchange of expertise and international dialogue.The Norwegian Chairmanship
The ITF has faced criticism from a number of public and academic Jewish groups and personalities in relation to the Norwegian chairmanship of 2009, which coincides with a controversial decision by Norway to launch a year of commemoration of the writer and Nazi sympathiser Knut HamsunKnut Hamsun
Knut Hamsun was a Norwegian author, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920. He was praised by King Haakon VII of Norway as Norway's soul....
. Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Manfred Gerstenfeld is an Austrian-born Israeli author and political activist.-Biography:Manfred Gerstenfeld was born in Vienna, grew up in Amsterdam and moved to Israel in 1968. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of Amsterdam. Gerstenfeld was a board member of the Israel...
, chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has challenged Norway's chairmanship of the Task Force on the grounds that "this country is unfit to hold such a position when in the same year it has held major memorial activities for the Nazi-admirer Hamsun." On July 20, 2009, the Norwegian chair published a statement rejecting the accusations against it, and promising to continue the ITF's efforts to combat anti-Semitism and promote Holocaust education. In an article for the Jerusalem Post, Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer
Yehuda Bauer is a historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He is a Professor of Holocaust Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.-Biography:...
defended the Norwegian chairmanship, stressing Norway's commitment to Holocaust education, while at the same time acknowledging the continuing presence of anti-Semitism in Norway and elsewhere: 'The arguments against Norway would be more credible if the Norwegians did not admit that there is anti-Semitism in Norway, that they ignored or wanted to bury Hamsun's pro-Nazi stand or that they hampered ITF's work in fighting anti-Semitism in any way. Not only is none of this true, but it was the Norwegian chairman that, before this controversy exploded, insisted on including the fight against anti-Semitism as a central component in the ITF's immediate future program - the proposal was accepted by acclamation.' Bauer also made the point that for Norway, the commemoration of Hamsun also represented an occasion for Holocaust education: 'The Norwegians believe the contrast between the work of a brilliant and universally-acclaimed author, and his personality as a pro-Nazi, is an occasion for educational efforts.'
The ITF and the Vatican
In 2009, the ITF suggested that the Vatican enter into a “special arrangement” with it. The Holy See’s Under Secretary of State, Monsignor Pietro Parolin, answered favorably, suggesting – moreover – that the Vatican become an ITF observer; and negotiations began. Several months later, however, “the Vatican's relatively inexperienced new deputy foreign minister” Monsigniore Ettore Balestrero had replaced Parolin, and together with Vatican Archivist Msgr. Chappin and the Vatican's Israel-relations negotiator Father David Jaeger, the proposal was effectively dismissed.On 21 December 2010 The Guardian newspaper published a news article based on US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks about the failure of negotiations:
“All three men… evinced considerable discomfort with the idea of ITF observer status. Balestrero argued that the Vatican needed to study the implications …focusing on legalistic impediments that Parolin had already dismissed. Jaeger was hostile overall …The decision … complicated Vatican foreign relations… the ITF is only the latest group to run into problems caused by the recent change of personnel …”
Julieta Valls Noyes, the number two at the American embassy to the Vatican, reported in October 2009, that the plans "had fallen apart completely … due to Vatican back-pedaling". She thought this might indicate that the Vatican "may ... be pulling back due to concerns about ITF pressure to declassify records from the WWII-era pontificate of Pope Pius XII". As The Guardian article explains, Pius XII has long been a controversial figure for his failure to publicly denounce the Holocaust in 1941-21 when first informed about it. Noyes reported that only six or eight researchers were working on the 16m documents, stored in hundreds of crates, that are left over from Pius XII's papacy. It had earlier taken a team of four Jesuits, working full time, 17 years to produce 12 volumes of his diplomatic correspondence.
External links
- Official website
- Cultures of Remembrance website http://www.cultures-of-remembrance.net
- Memorial Museums website http://www.memorial-museums.net