Claudia Roth Green Party members criticize statements on historical guilt, Digi Mart USA News (Germany): More than 50 members of the Green Party have called on the party leadership to publicly reject remarks made by former Culture Minister Claudia Roth about historical guilt and the Central Council of Jews, according to Tagesspiegel, which reported that the party’s antisemitism network sent a letter to the federal executive board.
The group, described as a loose association of party members rather than an official working group, wrote that Roth’s statements in a conversation with Tilo Jung about a “liberation from this guilt of history” and alleged pressure from the Central Council of Jews had “deeply irritated” them. The letter, dated Sunday and seen by Tagesspiegel, demands a “clear public contradiction” from the federal executive board.
The signatories acknowledged Roth’s long-standing commitment to confronting National Socialism but said her statements should not go unanswered. They said the aim was not to attribute a particular mindset to her, but to clearly identify and correct problematic remarks and their effect.
The letter also asks the board to firmly oppose any “delegitimization of the Central Council” and states that “our historical responsibility is no obstacle to political freedom, but a lasting mandate.” It further calls for consistent criticism of “defensive guilt-deflection and antisemitic narratives” within the party’s own ranks.
The dispute stems from Roth’s remarks on the podcast “Jung & Naiv.” She described her earlier criticism of Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, the Israeli and Palestinian directors who spoke of “apartheid” and “genocide” by Israel in their speech at the 2024 Berlinale award ceremony, as a mistake. She said she had been “too weak or overwhelmed” in that situation and expressed regret that she had not more strongly aligned herself with the Palestinian side, which she attributed to “considerable pressure,” especially from the Central Council of Jews.
Roth also said foreign friends had asked her when she would finally free herself from this guilt of history, a formulation she presented as their question. She described the surrounding debate on Israel and antisemitism as “absolutely toxic,” while stressing that opposing antisemitism is right and that criticism of the Israeli government must remain possible.
