It is a circular that appalls. Hamburg teachers have been asked to refrain from holding a minute’s silence with their pupils on October 7 in memory of the victims of Hamas terror, preferring instead to make cranes out of paper. ‘A scandal,’ says Hamburg’s CDU boss Dennis Thering (40).
‘Do without grand gestures such as minutes of silence, calls for mourning or empathy. Also refrain from watching reports together next week,’ reads a letter to all teachers in Hamburg on October 7. It originates from the ‘State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development’, for which the education authority of SPD Senator Ksenija Bekeris (46) is responsible.To put it in context: For months, politicians in Germany have been swearing that they stand ‘firmly on Israel’s side’. And now this embarrassing letter from a Hamburg authority. It should ‘not be about factual information’, it says. Rather, it should ‘give space to consternation.’ The reason behind this is apparently the fear that it could otherwise lead to conflicts with pupils from the Muslim community.
Dennis Thering, mayoral candidate and chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, is outraged: ‘The fact that the Hamburg education authority has asked Hamburg’s teachers not to hold a minute’s silence to remember the horrific attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel a year ago is a real scandal. Where, if not at school, should space be given to dealing with grief?’
The Hamburg Lord Mayor always talks about anti-Semitism having no place in Hamburg and about solidarity with Jews, but this no longer seems to apply in schools and in his Senate.
Thering continued: ‘A topic is being avoided here in anticipatory obedience because it could harbour potential for conflict. What conditions are we living in now? What is going on in the schools, what is going on in the education authority? If the school senator really is as clueless as she is pretending to be, it is frightening and shows that she does not have her authority under control. A tragedy!”In fact, the school authorities initially stated that they had no knowledge of the letter addressed to more than 20,000 teachers.
Authority spokesman Peter Albrecht told the newspaper BILD: ‘The content and form of this newsletter is now being analysed and evaluated in terms of service law and supervision. The concrete consequences will be drawn as part of the investigation.’
Behörde verhindert Israel-Gedenken – CDU-Boss Thering: „Ein Skandal“ | Regional | BILD.de