Shocking evidence revealed in CDU antisemitism funding scandal

Monday, March 9

The allegations are damning. One witness claimed that they had experienced nothing like it in their 30 years on the job. Another colleague said they were "astonished and shocked" by the "massive interference" in the funding process, as well as the pressure that was brought to bear on the decisions.

This evidence was heard on Friday during a seven-and-a-half-hour hearing at the parliamentary inquiry into the CDU funding scandal, which has been unfolding over recent months. In particular, attention has turned to the role that key figures in the CDU — former culture senator Joe Chialo, sitting culture senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson, and party politician Christian Goiny — played in allocating money that was intended to be used for combating antisemitism, and whether they acted unlawfully in funnelling that money to handpicked projects.

"In one case, they were asked to audit a project set to receive over a million euros in a single day"

One witness, referred to in reporting by rbb as W, was the head of department for civic engagement and the promotion of democracy. He testified that the projects to receive funding were proposed by CDU members of parliament, and that then-senator Joe Chialo issued instructions that their funding was to come unusually quickly. This direct political pressure was sometimes brought "by the Senator" and occasionally by a staff member.

Another witness — W's superior, another department head referred to as G — testified that they were given very little time to assess the funding candidates. In one case, they were asked to audit a project set to receive over a million euros in a single day. The total amount of funding to be distributed was €3.4 million.

Some of the projects that have received financial support from this antisemitism fund have already proved controversial, such as the Nova festival exhibition, or the award of €390,000 to the Zera Institute, a project against online hate led by a woman who was later seen to be behaving fairly hatefully online herself. She called journalist Kristin Helberg a "cheerleader of jihad," and described Iranian-German human rights activist Enissa Amani as a "simple-minded goblin."

Many of these projects were chosen by Christian Goiny, who has been identified as central to this network of CDU patronage. During the hearing, he accused Berlin's cultural administration of resisting efforts to combat antisemitism, and deliberately delaying the processing of applications — something which G vigorously denied.

Furthermore, witness G testified that both Joe Chialo and Wedl-Wilson had been explicitly informed — through written memos and personal conversations — that the path they had chosen was not legally compliant, and proceeded regardless. Ultimately only Wedl-Wilson signed off on the funding decisions, as Chialo had already resigned by that point.

The committee will continue deliberations in two weeks.