The idea to fight the rising anti-Semitism in Germany by obligatory visits to Nazi concentration camps for immigrants as a part of an integration program was first expressed by Berlin state senator Sawsan Chebli, who explained that this method would not let them to forget the lessons of the country's past.
"It makes sense for everyone living in this country to be obliged to visit a concentration camp memorial site at least once in their lives," Chebli told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday when she first floated the proposal.
The concept was supported by Josef Schuster, head of the country's Central Council of Jews.
"People who have fled to us who have themselves had to escape or been expelled, can develop empathy in such memorials," Schuster told Deutschlandfunk radio on Wednesday.
We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses.— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) January 7, 2018
We are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers
From Prague, Paris and Amsterdam,
And because we are only made of fabric and leather
And not of blood and flesh,
Each one of us avoided the hellfire.
(Mosze Szulsztajn)#Auschwitz pic.twitter.com/evJ3jpQkSl
Despite that fact that Germany has proven itself as a safe haven for the Jewish community, housing about 200,000 of them, the recent data shows the growing number of anti-Jewish crimes in 2017 up 4% compared to 2016.
The current integration course in Germany is focused on the German language and history, studying of the country's legal system and culture. The history module already includes information about the consequences of the Nazi regime for the people of Germany and the whole of Europe.
However, in December 2017, the country's justice minister urged to put more emphasis on the Holocaust issue in the course, explaining that people who want to live in Germany, should identify with its history.