Germany after World War

Berlin – When Karin Prien’s mother brought her to Germany as a child at the end of the 1960s, he gave her an urgent warning: “Do not tell anyone that you are Jewish.”

Almost six decades later, Prien is now after the first member of the Jewish Federal Cabinet of Germany of World War II, after being selected as Minister of Education, Family Affairs, Seniors, Women and Youth.

Prien told News themezone that he intends to use his platform to confront the emergence of anti -Semitism in Germany and further, and the fragility of democracy in a country still calculates with his past.

“Well, in a way, I’m proud,” the minister told News themezone in a sincere interview. “Proud to be a minister in the federal government, but also that I am recognized as a Jew and that German society is now until now [advanced] to accept that Jews have the right to be a conscious part of this society. “

Prien’s political career, and his personal history, represent an arc of conflict, tension and reconciliation that echoes that of Germany itself after the Holocaust.

“A matter of responsibility”

Born in the Netherlands of the Holocaust survivors, Prien moved to Germany at the age of 4. Even when I was a child, she was very aware of the silence that surrounded the identity of her family. His mother’s warning was still too dangerous to talk about being a Jew, more than two decades after the war ended, he formed his first years.

“There was always fear. My mother feared that there would still be too many Nazis,” said Prien. “It was not taken for granted that you could talk about being a Jew. It was something you kept inside the house.”

But that silence finally became intolerable. As a young teenager, he said he began to understand that the democratic values ​​he appreciated (freedom, human dignity, anti-discrimination) required defense.

“I decided: ‘I have to do something about it. Democracy is not something you can take for granted,” he said.

But Prien still waited decades before publicly recognizing his Jewish identity.

The turning point came in the early 2010s, when she was already a member of the State Parliament in Hamburg. Prien began to press for the systematic documentation of anti -Semitic incidents in schools. When a journalist asked him why he cared so much, she stopped and then said: “Because I am a Jew.”

“That was the time when I realized that I had a political voice,” he recalled. “I had some kind of influence. And for me, it was a matter of responsibility.”

Lessons of the past for today’s threats

That sense of responsibility weighs largely in Prien in today’s Germany, where he said that anti -Semitism is no longer limited to political stripes.

“We see anti -Semitism worldwide,” said Prien. “They dare to be openly anti -Semitic. I think it is now more than after the end of World War II. They dare to be openly anti -Semitic, and that is also becoming stronger. That has changed. And so we have anti -Semitic trends in the margins, but we also have it in the middle of society.”

While Germany once seemed to be a historical calculation model, Prien said he fears that complacency is being established.

After some “honest decades”, during which Prien says that the Germans faced the marked realities of the history of their country “, now, now, people are dying. And now we have to find new ways to talk about that. “

Prien believes that he should include a change in the education of the Holocaust. She wants German schools to expand from their current approach to the atrocities of World War II to also teach the history of Israel, the cultural contributions of Jewish Germans and the origins of anti -Semitism.

“Jewish identity is part of German identity,” he told News themezone. “Young people need to know that Jews are not just victims. Jews are diverse. They have a voice. They are part of this society.”

Prien said he is inspired by figures like Margot Friedländer, a survivor of the holocaust who coined the phrase: “Be a human.”

That, said Prien, should be the basis of any educational system in a democracy: teach human empathy and dignity.

But not only historical facts and universal dignity need to defend, he said, it is also the democratic fabric of Germany.

“We are an immigration society,” said Prien. “But we are not very good to have fair and equal possibilities for children who begin with more difficult conditions.”

She sees educational equity and national democratic resilience as intrinsically linked.

Prien now leads efforts to limit the use of mobile phones in German primary schools, warning that parents and policy formulators have been too naive on the risks of digital exposure for young people.

“We are eager for the real world. We lead our children to school and the classrooms, but we are not anxious for things online,” he said. “That has to change.”

When asked what message has for young Jews with political ambitions in Germany today, Prien did not hesitate: “stay. Do not pack your luggage. This is a different Germany. This is a country where you can live safely. And it is our work to make that promise true every day.”

• Germany