Berlin Culture Senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson has resigned over a scandal involving the improper distribution of 2.6 million euros in public funds intended for projects combating antisemitism, German media reported over the weekend.
According to an audit report, the funds were distributed without sufficient vetting of the organizations involved, and in some cases, despite warnings from professional officials in the Culture Department. The affair drew sharp political criticism, shook the city’s cultural system and eventually led Wedl-Wilson to step down.
Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner, of the Christian Democratic Union, accepted Wedl-Wilson’s resignation and thanked her for her work. He said she was “taking political and personal responsibility, and for that she deserves respect.” Wegner added that despite the crisis, she had contributed to strengthening culture in the city and to the fight against antisemitism, including during challenging periods.
Wedl-Wilson, who entered the position a little under a year ago, said she resigned to prevent harm to the fight against antisemitism. She said the importance of the issue required full public accountability.
At the same time, the mayor said the city would work to ensure a proper legal framework for funding projects in the field, stressing, “We will not let up in the fight against antisemitism in Berlin.”
Meanwhile, figures in the city’s cultural sector warned of the crisis’s potential consequences. Franziska Stüwe, chair of the Berlin Cultural Conference, called for stability to be restored quickly in the cultural system and warned that “the overall situation endangers cultural funding in the city and culture as a whole.”
She said there was an urgent need to appoint a replacement who would work to rebuild trust and reverse budget cuts.
The Berlin Cultural Conference, which brings together the city’s main cultural organizations, describes itself as a mediating body between the cultural sector and the authorities. It said political instability could directly harm cultural institutions in the city.
The affair comes amid growing tensions in Germany over antisemitism since the October 7 attacks and the war in Gaza, as well as public debate over the scope of the definition of antisemitism and how it affects funding for public projects.