Education Minister Prien warns of rising Jewish anxiety after AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt

In a televised interview, Federal Education Minister Karin Prien expressed that the AfD's electoral success in Saxony-Anhalt is causing increased anxiety within Germany's Jewish population. She reflected on her family's flight to the Netherlands during the Nazi era and the murder of two of her great-grandmothers, noting how those histories inform her present worries. Prien pointed to a recent murder threat against Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München und Oberbayern, as a concrete sign of the climate.

She questioned the practicality of an AfD ban, noting the lengthy legal process, but said the government must remain ready to consider it. The proposal by North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst to set up a federal-state working group was met with caution, and Saarland Minister-President Anke Rehlinger supported the idea in principle but also raised timing concerns. The final decision on any ban rests with the Bundesverfassungsgericht.