Germany’s Soft Power Strategy in Israel

Halima Hafeez

Seven decades after the Holocaust, Germany and Israel’s journey from trauma to trust offers a rare glimpse into meaningful diplomatic healing. Through Holocaust education and interfaith dialogue, Germany has build a moral foreign policy rooted in remembrance. In a world fractured by denial, and division, this process has been a steadfast acknowledgement of historic responsibility and a commitment to memory, dialogue and education.

Germany’s moral foreign policy emphasizes Holocaust remembrance, education, and interfaith dialogue as tools of diplomatic healing.

As the student of international relations, I believe the German-Israeli reconciliation serves as a rare but hopeful blueprint for diplomatic healing in fractured world. The relationship between Israel and Germany is one of the most complex and emotional bilateral ties in modern history. Emerging from the ashes of the Holocaust, a genocide that claimed 6 million Jewish lives, Germany and Isreal have worked over decades to transform their relationship toward reconciliation. Central to this process has been acknowledgement of historic responsibility and commitment to memory, dialogue and education.

 Today, Germany’s active emphasis on Holocaust education and interfaith dialogue in Isreal represents a crucial model of diplomatic healing. It is a testament to how public diplomacy, beyond official treaties and state visits, can nurture trust, compassion, and a shared future between former rivals.

Following the horrors of the Second World War, Germany faced political and moral challenges in addressing its role in the Holocaust. In 1952, the Luxembourg Reparations Agreement created the foundation for formal German Israel ties, offering compensation to Holocaust survivors and supporting Isreal’s early state building efforts. Yet, material reparations were only one part of the equation. Holocaust remembrance became a main pillar of the evolving relationship. Symbolic gestures reinforced these commitments: German Chancellors such as Willy Brandt who famously knelt at the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial in 1970, and Angela Merkel, who affirmed Germany’s “eternal responsibility” during her 2008 speech at Knesset, demonstrated Germany’s commitment to historical accountability. These acts set a tone for deeper societal engagement beyond politics.

Germany’s approach to Israel goes beyond Traditional diplomacy. Through educational programs, cultural initiatives, and grassroots collaboration, Germany has taken people-to-people connections rooted in remembrance and mutual respect. Main efforts include the funding of Holocaust education centres in Isreal and support for organization like Yad Vashem. Germany actively participates in cultural exchanges, such as German Israeli Future Forum Foundation, which connects young professionals across both states to promote dialogue and innovation. Furthermore, German-Israeli Youth Exchange Programs encourage teenagers from both states to engage in shared projects, preserving historical memory while building new partnerships. This form of public diplomacy engages civil society directly, strengthening emotional ties across generations and shaping enduring perceptions.

Grassroots initiatives and youth exchanges have transformed bilateral trust beyond formal treaties.

Holocaust education stands as the cornerstone of Germany’s public diplomacy efforts towards in Isreal. Through collaborative projects with Israeli schools, teacher training, German institutions support curriculum development and historical initiatives like the “German-Isreal Textbook Commission” seek to ensure that educational content and materials present balanced and comprehensive narratives of the Holocaust. Research grants sponsored by the “DAAD (German Academic Exchange service)” enable joint German Israeli academic studies on Holocaust trauma and memory. These education investments aim to bridge the gap between societies, shaping informed generations capable of empathy and historical reflection.

Beyond history, Germany emphasizes interfaith dialogue to strengthen bilateral trust and promote coexistence. Institutions like the Abraham Geiger College in Germany, which trains rabbis for Jewish communities, promotes cooperation with Christian and Muslim leaders. Similarly, German foundations such as the “Konrad Adenauer Shiftgand Friedrich Ebert Stiftung” sponsor interfaith seminars and conferences that bring together Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars and youth from Isreal and Germany.  These initiatives recognize that true healing must address not just historically wounds but also contemporary tensions. By promoting mutual understanding across faith, Germany-Israeli partnership builds on shared human values rather than solely political or historical concerns.

Of course, Germany’s initiatives are not without criticism. Some Israeli Commentators express scepticism regarding Germany’s motivations, questioning whether public diplomacy is at time driven by political convenience rather true moral responsibility. Meanwhile, nationalist parties or group of both states occasionally oppose reconciliation efforts, wither by minimizing Germany’s guilt or questioning Israel polices. Germany’s sustained commitment over decades suggests that reconciliation, though fragile ongoing, remains a sincere cornerstone of its foreign policy.

Unlike other countries that struggle with denial or revisionism such as Japan’s often tense diplomacy with South Korea or Turkey’s stance on the Armenian genocide, Germany’s transparent. Engagement its past offers a rare courageous example of reconciliatory diplomacy. Moreover, Israeli institutions and civil society have reciprocated these efforts, with youth programs, universities, and religious leaders actively participating in German-sponsored initiatives. This reciprocal engagement strengthens the societal foundation upon which bilateral trust is build.

Germany’s experience also raises a critical question: can such models of public diplomacy be replicated in present-day conflicts, such as the Israeli-Palestinian issue or future post-conflict reconciliation between Russia- and Ukraine? If education and interfaith dialogue can help bridge divides after atrocities like the Holocaust, they may offer similar hope for healing other regions scarred by violence and mistrust.

Germany’s transparent reckoning with its past offers a replicable model for post-conflict reconciliation worldwide.

As someone from a region still grappling with interethnic and interfaith tensions, I find Germany’s diplomatic transformation not only admirable but deeply instructive. This approach demonstrates that countries even with painful legacies, can forge moral foreign policy rooted in empathy. I believe more states must take such courageous steps in confronting their histories honestly and constructively. In an era of rising nationalism and historical denial, Germany’s model of public diplomacy is not only exemplary- it is urgently necessary.

The author is a final semester student of BS International Relations at Fatima Jinnah Women's University, Rawalpindi.