Schools obsessed with Hitler, says Church of England report

> Schools are perpetuating damaging stereotypes of Germans because of
their
> "obsession" with Hitler and the Second World War, it was claimed
> yesterday.
>
> The vast numbers of pupils who choose to study the Nazi period in
history
> is fuelling anti-German feeling, the Church of England said.
>
> This undercurrent is reinforced by the large number of war films
shown on
> television and the "drip feed" of anti-German comments in the media,
a
> report said.
>
> Its authors said that they had received letters from German
Christians
> living in Britain who had experienced "shameful treatment".
>
> "A teacher of German in a secondary school reported being repeatedly
> confronted with a 'Heil Hitler' and with swastikas on history books,"
said
> the report.
>
> "The grandchild of another person found herself excluded, on a school
trip
> to France, from visiting a British war cemetery 'as she was a Nazi' -
this
> despite the fact that her grandfather came to Britain as a Jewish
> refugee."
>
> It said that the role of Britain in defeating the Nazis had
reinforced "a
> sense of moral righteousness" and inhibited "soul-searching" over our
own
> history.
>
> The Bishop of Croydon, the Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, said that the
Church
> had written to the Department of Education urging schools to focus
more on
> modern Germany.
>
> "If you bring up children and their only images of Germany are of
Fritz in
> a helmet, that is going to have an effect," he said.
>