The far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) recently made gains in state elections in Saxony. Now Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, member of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), wants to launch a new bid to ban them. By pushing to take the case to Germany’s highest court, the CSU is breaking ranks with its sister party, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CDU in no way supports or endorses the NPD and would be pleased to see it disappear from the political stage altogether. But the CDU wants to avoid another failure to ban the group at Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court. Politicians across party lines are united in a desire to stop the NPD. But what they seem to be divided about is whether a new case should be brought to court to do so.
Read more on http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,648086,00.html
Holocaust education faces cuts in recession
Updated 8/31/2009 2:26 PM
By Janell Ross and Clay Carey, USA TODAY
Jill Coble never skips the Holocaust in her social studies classes, using the event as a gateway to discussions about the dangers of propaganda.
The middle school teacher in Smyrna, Tenn., is the unofficial coordinator of about 12 teachers trying to help the Tennessee Commission on Holocaust Education fulfill its core mission — making sure Holocaust victims are remembered and the public receives and grasps lessons about hate and human rights.
“Many of my students, they arrive with basically no knowledge of the Holocaust,” Coble said. “But interestingly enough, here in Smyrna and I’m sure in other parts of the state, we have people who have … experienced some type of persecution first hand. So, I think what the Holocaust has to teach us really resonates.”
That task is likely to become more challenging as the Tennessee commission and other groups like it lose state funding.
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Published 27.AUG.09
Governor signs bill with Houston survivors, HMH leadership and co-sponsors
Gov. Rick Perry, on Aug. 18, ceremonially signed Senate Bill 482, establishing the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. The legislation, authored by Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and sponsored in the House by Reps. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, and Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, sought to ensure broader and deeper understanding regarding the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th century.
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