BERLIN — Refugees in Germany must unlearn the anti-Semitism fed to them in their home countries, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in accepting the German Reform movement’s top award.
Merkel on Wednesday was presented with the Abraham Geiger Prize, worth more than $10,000, for her commitment as “guarantor of basic democratic values and freedom of religion,” according to the award jury.
The German chancellor is donating the funds to the “Dialog Perspectives” program of the Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Studienwerk, a foundation for talented Jewish students.
At Wednesday’s ceremony at Berlin’s Jewish Museum, Merkel, 61, said she shared the Jewish community’s humanitarian concerns and worries, wanting to help refugees fleeing ISIS, but also wanting to protect democracy at home. An estimated 800,000 refugees, most of them Muslim, will have sought asylum in Germany by the end of this year.
In order to be integrated, the asylum seekers “must respect our culture and learn our language,” Merkel said. They also must adhere to laws that protect equal rights for women and gays, and that reject anti-Semitism, she emphasized.
Read the full article at Times of Israel
