Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Karin Prien, who has served as Schleswig-Holstein’s education minister since 2017, will be appointed as Germany’s new federal minister for education, family, women and youth under incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Prien, a member of Merz’s conservative party, will be the first Jewish federal minister in Germany since the end of World War II and the Holocaust.
Prien, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, has spoken openly in past interviews about her personal history and the influence of Jewish culture and traditions on her life. She currently chairs the Jewish Forum within the conservative party.
After learning German and acquiring German citizenship, Prien noted that her mother had mixed feelings about the process, describing it as “a big deal” and something she did not fully support.
In February 2022, Prien faced heavy criticism and calls for her resignation after a social media post that appeared to downplay the deaths of children from COVID-19. She temporarily left X (then-Twitter) following a wave of personal and antisemitic attacks.
She publicly supported singer Gil Ofarim when he accused a hotel employee of antisemitic discrimination for allegedly asking him to remove his Star of David necklace, saying it was “unbelievable that such things still happen in Germany.” However, Prien later issued a public apology after it emerged that Ofarim had fabricated the incident.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Prien has also condemned broad accusations against Israel, asserting that labeling Israel, a democratic country, as an apartheid state constitutes antisemitism.
Her appointment was somewhat unexpected in Schleswig-Holstein but less surprising within her party, where she is regarded as a hardworking and accessible politician and one of Germany’s better-known and more ambitious political figures.
Still, she has faced criticism for her record as education minister, during which school hours were cut, the number of students dropping out without diplomas rose significantly and the integration of students with disabilities declined.
Prien also drew backlash and hate campaigns after suggesting during the 2015 refugee crisis that Hamburg residents could privately host refugees if they wished. Her online popularity partly stems from her more personal social media presence, which often features family cooking posts with her husband and their three adult sons.
In November 2023, a month after Hamas’s attack, Prien posted a photo wearing her mother's Star of David necklace, writing: “Mom, today I’m wearing your Star of David necklace over my dress. For decades you always wore it hidden under your clothes. I used to think your fear of revealing our Jewish roots was exaggerated but now I realize I was wrong — and you were right.”