Berlin Culture Senator Resigns Over Illegal Allocation of €2.6 Million for Antisemitism Prevention
Introduction
Sarah Wedl-Wilson, Berlin's culture senator, has resigned after a state audit found that €2.6 million in public funds for antisemitism prevention programs were given out without following proper rules and budget regulations. Mayor Kai Wegner accepted her resignation on Friday, five months before the city's parliamentary election.
Main Body
The resignation follows a report by the Berlin Court of Audit, released on Thursday. The report stated that the culture department's procedures for processing and giving grants to 13 projects were illegal. The auditors claimed that the funding decisions lacked clear criteria and that necessary technical and content reviews were not carried out. Furthermore, the funds were given to a list of projects put together by lawmakers from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the senior coalition partner in Berlin's government. This happened despite internal staff warnings that the groups had not been properly checked. Wedl-Wilson, who is not a member of any political party, authorized the payments after CDU representatives pushed for quick approval. She had already dismissed her state secretary, Oliver Friederici, on Tuesday because of this issue. Opposition parties, including the Greens and the Left, accused two CDU lawmakers of improper influence, but the lawmakers deny this. A parliamentary committee of inquiry, set up in December, is investigating the allegations. One of the recipients was the Zera Institute, a think tank that received €390,000. Its director, Maral Salmassi, had previously called philanthropist George Soros a 'parasite' on social media and compared The Guardian newspaper to a Nazi-era publication. Furthermore, a researcher hired by the institute, Matthias J. Becker, was alleged to have falsely claimed a connection with the University of Cambridge; he denied misrepresenting his credentials. Salmassi described the scrutiny as a politically motivated press campaign. The audit focused only on the legality of the funding process, not on the quality of the projects' work. Authorities must now decide whether the organizations will have to repay the public funds. Wedl-Wilson, a British-Austrian national with a background in classical music management, took office in May 2025, replacing Joe Chialo, who resigned over severe budget cuts to the arts. Her resignation is the third departure from Wegner's cabinet since he became mayor in April 2023. Former transport senator Manja Schreiner left in April 2024 after losing her doctorate in a plagiarism case. The controversy happens at a time of rising antisemitic incidents in Berlin after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian activists have criticized the definition of such offenses, arguing it is too broad and includes legitimate criticism of the Israeli government. Werner Graf, the Green Party's candidate to challenge Wegner in the September election, stated that the affair had caused serious damage to both the fight against antisemitism and public trust in democratic institutions.
Conclusion
The resignation of Sarah Wedl-Wilson marks the latest disruption in Berlin's coalition government ahead of the September parliamentary election. The case highlights tensions between political influence and proper administrative procedures in the allocation of public funds for sensitive social programs.