The American Jewish Committee led training programs about antisemitism and Jewish identity for Lufthansa employees this week as part of the German airline’s internal response to an antisemitic event in May 2022 in which a flight crew removed all 128 visibly Jewish passengers from a flight after some refused to adhere to its COVID-19 guidelines.

The programs, which were held in Munich and Frankfurt, Germany, trained Lufthansa employees — “from ground crew to cabin crew” — in the nuances of Jewish culture and practice, recognizing antisemitism and practical strategies to prevent bias, AJC said on Thursday, touting the initiative as the “first of its kind” in the airline industry.

“This partnership helps ensure Lufthansa leads the airline industry in promoting allyship and countering antisemitism,” Holly Huffnagle, AJC’s U.S. director of combating antisemitism, said at the training event.

According to AJC, the training session included lessons on: Jewish culture and religious practices; modern and historical antisemitism; and “practical strategies to prevent and address bias at every stage, from check-in to in-flight service.”

Last month, the Department of Transportation issued a $4 million fine against Lufthansa for the incident, the largest ever issued by the office for a civil rights violation. 

“No one should face discrimination when they travel, and today’s action sends a clear message to the airline industry that we are prepared to investigate and take action whenever passengers’ civil rights are violated,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at the time.

Though Lufthansa denied that the flight crew had been motivated by antisemitism and officially rejected the Department of Transportation’s authority to issue the fine — on the grounds that the incident took place in Frankfurt, Germany, and Lufthansa is not an American company — the airline acknowledged that the crew had acted inappropriately and announced steps that it was taken to further demonstrate its commitment to combat antisemitism.

This included adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and supporting local German Jewish community initiatives. 

In addition, the airline partnered with the American Jewish Committee for the employee training program, which began this week.

“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,” Huffnagle said when the partnership was first announced in September 2022. 

AJC has announced several new initiatives this year to combat antisemitism through education. In June, AJC CEO Ted Deutch announced the Center for Education Advocacy to eJewishPhilanthropy. The initiative is targeted toward campus antisemitism, which Deutch described as “the most urgent crisis domestically for us to confront.” 

AJC also announced its collaboration on an education initiative with the Jewish Agency for Israel to educate Jewish Agency shlichim about antisemitism in America, and announced a global call to action against antisemitism at the AJC Global Conference in June. At the time, Deutch described antisemitism as “a threat that society as a whole ought to confront.”