Özdemir on Roth: Old dual leadership, new dispute

Even when they were still leading the Green Party together, Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir often had different opinions. Now the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg has criticized his former co-chair for her statements in a podcast: “I think it is difficult to say that the Central Council of Jews put pressure on her,” said Özdemir. He himself can only say that he has always worked well with the Central Council. Roth's statements are particularly problematic "because it serves this narrative: There is a lobby that determines German politics." And further: “We should handle this very carefully.”

Özdemir's criticism intervenes in a debate within the Green Party that has been raging since the weekend and touches on the party's relationship with Jews in Germany. In the “Jung & Naiv” podcast last week, the former Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth described it as a personal mistake to have criticized actors in the film “No Other Land” during her time in office. She regrets that today. At the closing gala of the Berlinale 2024, statements made by several award winners about the war in Gaza sparked a debate about anti-Semitism in the cultural sector. Claudia Roth was also criticized for her behavior at the time.

The media pressure was “massive,” said the long-time member of the Bundestag in the podcast. “There was such incredible pressure from the Central Council, from an incredible number of circles.” In further conversation she reported: "Some good friends of mine, foreign friends, say: When will you finally free yourself from this guilt of history? Or when will you deal with it differently?"

As a result, 50 Green Party members wrote an open letter to the party leadership at the weekend in which they demanded a clear public objection from the federal executive board. According to the authors, the party leadership must counteract the “delegitimization of the Central Council of Jews.” At the same time, the signatories acknowledged Roth's commitment to confronting National Socialism. Precisely for this reason, it is not a matter of “generally attributing an attitude” to Roth, but rather of “correcting problematic statements.”

Meanwhile, the party leadership stood behind Claudia Roth. Party leader Franziska Brantner described Roth's statement as an unfortunate formulation. “She should have classified these third-party statements so that these misleading interpretations were not possible,” Brantner said.

Roth had already qualified some of her statements to Stern. She “did not adopt” these statements from her friends, but merely quoted them.