Lufthansa to Give Employees Antisemitism Training

By Reuvain Borchardt

Lufthansa will be providing antisemitism training to its employees, after the German airline received a torrent of criticism over an incident in May in which over 100 Orthodox Jews were banned from a connecting flight because allegedly a small number had not complied with mask guidelines.

Lufthansa announced Thursday the joint initiative with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), in which Lufthansa will utilizing AJC staff experts to train airline employees to identify and respond to antisemitism. AJC was one of many Jewish organizations that had criticized Lufthansa following the incident.

Earlier this summer, Lufthansa announced it would establish a senior management position “for the prevention of discrimination and antisemitism,” and endorse of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.

The Working Definition includes items like hatred, discrimination or violence against Jews; Holocaust denial; antisemitism as it relates to Israel; and accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group. It was adopted unanimously by the IHRA’s 31 member states in 2016, and has been endorsed by 24 European countries, including Germany, and five German corporation.

“We are grateful for Lufthansa’s strong commitment to address antisemitism and bias within the workplace,” said Holly Huffnagle, AJC’s U.S. Director of Combating Antisemitism. “As global antisemitism rises, the private sector increasingly has a role to play, and Lufthansa aims to be a corporate leader in the fight against anti-Jewish prejudice.”

“Fundamental to standing against antisemitism is understanding what it is and how it manifests, both in overt forms and through unconscious bias. The IHRA definition recognizes all of this – that is its distinct strength,” said Lufthansa Group Executive Board Member Christina Foerster, who was in Washington, meeting with Deborah Lipstadt, U.S Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism; Felix Klein, Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Antisemitism; Emily Haber, German Ambassador to the U.S.; and Michael Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.

In the May 4 incident, over 100 Jews traveling from New York to Hungary for the yahrtzeit of Reb Shaya of Kerestir were banned from their connecting flight, allegedly because a small number of them had not been wearing masks.

A video taken by a passenger and posted on the travel website Dan’s Deals shows the passenger telling a Lufthansa employee, “I was wearing a mask the whole time” and, “Why am I lumped in with them?”

“Everybody has to pay for a couple,” the agent responds, and goes on to say, “Jewish people who were the mess, who made the problems.”

Lufthansa has since apologized for the incident, and held a number of meetings with passengers, elected officials, rabbis and Jewish community leaders.

Approximately 115 of the banned passengers have retained attorney Mark Goldfeder of the American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-religious-liberties law firm, for a lawsuit against the airline.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com