In an open letter to Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth, WJC Executive Vice President Maram Stern called for Roth to take clear steps to ensure that projects that perpetuate antisemitism do not recieve support from Germany’s government under her supervision.
The full text of the open letter can be found below:
Brussels, 4 March 2024
Dear Commissioner,
I do not understand you.
More precisely, I don’t understand how you view your office as Minister of State for Culture.
Do you believe your job is primarily to generously distribute taxpayers’ money for film funding, literary festivals, museums and art exhibitions? Nothing against cultural funding, but these funds could easily be distributed by a subordinate authority. You don’t need a top politician for that.
You only need one if you don’t only want to promote culture, but actually craft cultural policy. But then you also need to deal with unpleasant, controversial issues – antisemitism in the art world falls precisely into this category.
It seems to me that you see it differently. Not that you are an antisemite; I would always defend you against that accusation, despite my frustration with your politics.
Nor do you think antisemitism is unproblematic. No, you have repeatedly said that you consider the antisemitism of others in the cultural scene to be a serious problem.
But unfortunately not yours. Even after the Documenta, you complained eloquently about the antisemitic works of art exhibited there, yet refused to take responsibility for them.
The same thing happened again at the Berlinale – as if you were just an ordinary visitor to the festival rather than the responsible Minister of State for Culture. In an interview with Der Spiegel, you explained that your role is to "help ensure that events like this don't happen."
I can only agree with that. But that also implies that you are at least partly responsible if events unfold the way they did. However, I didn't read a word about this in the Spiegel interview. Instead, you say directly afterwards: "That's exactly why it's so important now to find out how it could have come to this."
That sounds very naive. It sounds as if you didn't understand something that is very easy to understand.
Even in the run-up to Documenta 15, numerous warnings were thrown to the wind. But after the art show at the very latest, it should have been clear to everyone that antisemitism in the cultural sector is more than just a marginal phenomenon. And if this Documenta was a scandal with an announcement (which it was), then the recent Berlinale was a scandal that was announced from huge speakers at a deafening volume. Only that once again, you didn't hear it.
Four months ago, more than 1200 Jews were murdered in Israel and many more were raped, injured and kidnapped. What has happened since then? You only have to open the newspaper to find out: Since then, the number of crimes against Jews worldwide has exploded. Against Jews, mind you. Not by Jews. There is nowhere they can really feel safe anymore. At the same time, we are seeing artists and intellectuals protecting the murderers of Hamas, justifying their atrocities as a legitimate act of resistance. In other words: the victims themselves were somehow to blame for their fate.
Israel's war against Hamas is not perceived as a reaction to mass murder, but as aggression directed against the civilian population in Gaza. Are you, dear Ms. Roth, surprised that there is talk of an alleged Israeli "genocide" and the deliberate "slaughter of Palestinians" on the stage of the Berlinale?
No, it's not about stopping criticism of Israel. One can consider the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip to be wrong or the actions of the IDF to be disproportionate. You can ask whether the number of civilian casualties among the Palestinians justifies the means. These are completely legitimate questions that are open to debate.
But anyone who talks about Israel committing genocide against the Palestinians is not interested in an objective discussion. Rather, their business is to demonize the Jewish state. And for that, dear Ms. Roth, there must be no public and state-funded stage. Especially not in Germany.
I had always thought that everyone in Germany was aware of this. But perhaps I need to repeat it again: The situation of us Jews has always been precarious, throughout the centuries. We have always been in the minority. We have mostly been discriminated against, threatened, persecuted and even murdered. Fortunately, our situation in Germany has fundamentally and noticeably improved in recent decades. We are grateful for that.
However, it is still not free of hostility and threats. And since October 7, we have been afraid again.
In this situation, we do not expect half-heartedness or empty but noble words.
We expect the full backing of German politicians.
When art becomes antisemitic, when artists make antisemitic statements, then, Ms. Roth, your place should not be on the side of the artists, but on the side of the Jews in Germany.
With my best regards,
Maram Stern
Executive Vice President
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