Panel to study Nazi foreign ministry

BERLIN, July 12 (UPI) -- A five-member historians' panel in Germany, which includes an Israeli and an American, will study the role of the German foreign ministry during the Nazi era.

The panel was appointed by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the BBC reported Tuesday. The panel will have its first meeting in September, but the work may take years to complete.

Henry A Turner of Yale University and Moshe Zimmermann of the Hebrew University will be the two outsiders on the panel.

Fischer earlier this year faced controversy when he ordered an internal magazine to stop publishing obituaries of former diplomats from the Nazi era, the report said.

It said the minister hopes the panel will expose a continuity between the Nazi era and the post-war West German foreign ministry.