Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth received boos at a Jewish music competition. Her “relative attitude” at the Documenta art exhibition also plays a role.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth was confronted with boos at a Jewish music competition – but takes it calmly. A spokesman for the Greens politician told the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” (Sunday) that she had taken part in the “Jewrovision” competition in Frankfurt am Main at the invitation of the President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster. During her greeting, some who disagreed with her policies and direction “voiced it loudly.”
Before that, however, Roth had exchanged views with Schuster and the young people who took part, and from her point of view it was “very good and exciting”. Roth also has “a very good relationship with many people who represent and shape Jewish life in Germany today, and maintains close contact with them,” said her spokesman.
One of the vice-presidents of the German-Israeli Society (DIG), Marcus Faber (FDP), explained in the “Tagesspiegel” that Roth’s “relative attitude” at the Documenta art exhibition was “just the icing on the cake for a number of questionable positions and decisions”. . “The relationship between Mrs. Roth and the Jews in Germany is disturbed.” Faber asked Roth to seek talks with the Jewish associations.
Anti-Semitism scandal at Documenta
At the Documenta exhibition last year in Kassel, there was a scandal of anti-Semitism, and one work was taken down. The exhibition was co-financed from Roth’s budget. She was accused of having ignored previous warnings of anti-Semitic tendencies of the Indonesian exhibition organizers.
The chairman of the Young Forum in the DIG, Constantin Ganss, told the newspaper: “It’s not enough just to take care of dead Jews. To make that clear, the young Jewish people protested against Ms. Roth.”
A video shared by one of the DIG Vice Presidents, Anna Staroselski, on Twitter shows Roth interrupting her speech in the face of the protests and shouting: “This is democracy. I accept this criticism because we have a strong and a colorful and a bold democracy.” Staroselski captioned the video: “Mission to clean up has failed.”
Source: Stern
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