Germany names EU official Katharina von Schnurbein antisemitism commissioner
The European Commission's antisemitism coordinator takes up the post, vacant since late August, on Oct. 28. Germany's Central Council of Jews and the Greens welcomed the choice.
Archive image · Photo: Europäische Kommission – Xavier Lejeune / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's cabinet on Wednesday appointed Katharina von Schnurbein as the federal government's commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and the fight against antisemitism, the Interior Ministry said. She is due to start on Oct. 28; the post has been vacant since Felix Klein left at the end of August.
Von Schnurbein, who holds a doctorate in political science, has served as the European Commission's coordinator on combating antisemitism since 2015. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU called her a "proven expert in the fight against antisemitism."
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said he considered her "an outstanding choice, both personally and professionally." Greens interior policy expert Marlene Schönberger also voiced "full confidence" that she was the right person for the job.