By Philip Fabian, Filipp Piatov and Zara Riffler
The Minister of State for Culture gave a welcoming speech at a youth music competition organized by the Jewish community (“Jewrovision”) in the Festhalle in Frankfurt am Main. The young audience made it clear what they think of Roth’s performance: Nothing at all!
Roth was violently booed and hissed at. Videos can be heard of some guests shouting “Get off the stage!” and “You are not welcome here!” Posters were held up that clearly expressed their rejection of Roth.
Roth couldn’t ignore the boos and responded with a platitude: “I accept the criticism because we are a strong, colorful and courageous democracy.”
︎ The stage scandal – a new low in the relationship between Roth, the federal government’s cultural commissioner based in the Chancellery, and the Jewish community.
On BILD request A Roth spokeswoman said that Claudia Roth was informed by the “President of the Central Council of Jews, Dr. Josef Schuster, who has been invited to take part in the Jewrovision 2023 in Frankfurt am Main and to give a greeting there”.
According to BILD information, Roth had actively tried to take part in the youth celebration. Apparently she had expected to be able to make her crisis relationship with the Jewish community look better at a music event without any political risk.
BILD knows: The fact that there is a crisis between Roth and the Jewish community in Germany has long since ceased to be an internal Jewish issue, but is also perceived extremely negatively within the federal government.
Many Jews in Germany are very critical of Claudia Roth. There are many reasons for this, above all her role in the “Documenta” art exhibition in Kassel in summer 2022.
︎ Roth, from whose money the “Documenta” is co-financed, had ignored all warnings in advance for months that the curators were pursuing an anti-Semitic agenda – until the scandal broke and the anti-Jewish works of art were exhibited. Jewish artists from Israel were not even invited to the exhibition.
︎ According to BILD information, there are major reservations in Jewish associations about Claudia Roth’s head of office, Andreas Görgen. It is blamed on his wrong advice that Roth ignored numerous warnings about Jew hatred at the “Documenta”.
Roth and Görgen have an unclear relationship with the anti-Semitic boycott movement BDS. When the Bundestag classified the movement as anti-Semitic in 2019, Roth distanced himself from the parliamentary resolution. In 2020, when German artists defended the anti-Semitic BDS movement in a letter of protest, Görgen’s name appeared on the list of thanks.
After the “Documenta” scandal, Claudia Roth disappeared from events organized by the Jewish community.
︎ On October 20, 2022, the Central Council of Jews in Germany awarded its highest award, the Leo Baeck Prize, to Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (56, Greens). Among the guests were of course the Green party leaders Ricarda Lang (28) and Omid Nouripour (47). Missing: Claudia Roth.
︎ On the evening of November 8, 2022, at the annual donation dinner support group “Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe eV”, her high-ranking party friend Annalena Baerbock (41) gave the after-dinner speech. In recent years, Roth’s predecessor, then Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters (60, CDU), had always invited to this important event. Roth was neither the hostess nor invited as a guest this time.
Jewish rapper: No “Kosher stamp” for Roth
The Jewish German rapper Ben Salomo (46) was present at Roth’s speech at “Jewrovision”. The musician to BILD: “At this year’s ‘Jewrovision’ it was made very clear that the young Jewish community no longer issues careless ‘Kosher stamps’.”
Means: The participants and guests of the music event did not want to be used for Roth’s image campaign.
Ben Salomo also blames Roth for previous contacts with the Iranian mullah regime: “In addition, our community does not forgive any uncritical attitude towards the Islamist mullah regime, which propagates the annihilation of Israel on a daily basis and oppresses and executes the courageous people in Iran who are fighting for their freedom !“