Despite the film Europa, Europa's relative financial and critical success in the United States, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not nominate the film for a Best Foreign Film Oscar this morning.

The German Film Export Council refused to recognize the film's German status and therefore prevented its nomination by the academy, said Richard Wilson, an academy administrator.

Partially following the life story of Salomon Perel, a Jewish man who spent much of World War II masquerading as a "real" German and even attended a Hitler Youth School, the film's multinational status may have led to the council not recognizing it.

Rabbi David Sudaley, director of the Penn State B'nai B'rith/Hillel Foundation, said that although he has not seen the film, he understands the council's possible rationale.

"I don't think it's by chance that it wasn't submitted," he said. "It could be that the Holocaust is becoming something that is being put out of people's minds. It might just be that people want to move past it."

The Associated Press reported that Agnieszka Holland, the film's Polish-born director, said the decision reflected "arrogance and xenophobia."

Sudaley did not show concern that the council's move would cause people to disregard the tragedies of World War II.

"I don't think people can forget about this," he said.

Nations establish which film will compete for the Best Foreign Film award through an organization like the council, and academy members nominate from that pool, Wilson said.

The film must also meet the requirements for nomination --such as playing during the calendar year -- he said.

Europa, Europa's exclusion from the category means no German film will compete for the foreign film prize, Wilson added.

The academy, however, can nominate Europa, Europa -- and other German films -- in every other category, including Best Picture, Wilson stressed.

The decision came just after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented Europa, Europa with its Best Foreign Film Award.