Agency Report –
German Education Minister Karin Prien on Monday visited the Yad Vashem memorial in Jerusalem, paying her respects to the victims of the Holocaust.
Prien, the first openly Jewish minister in Germany’s post-war history, said it is a “matter of respect” for every German minister to visit the memorial.
The experience was particularly moving for Prien, “because parts of my family also lost their lives in German concentration camps,” she told dpa.
While it was not her first visit to the memorial, she said it was still shocking.
Yad Vashem is the largest Holocaust memorial in the world.
A branch of the museum is due to be established in Germany, with a decision on the location expected to be made in the first half of 2026.
Prien said the new educational centre means a lot to her personally and will be of great importance in resolving how to deal with the history of the Holocaust, now that very few survivors remain.
New methods are needed, she argued. At Yad Vashem, she was able to witness the use of multimedia approaches, for instance.
Prien, who is in Israel for several days, met her Israeli counterpart Yoav Kisch on Monday. She wants to promote youth exchanges between Israel and Germany, after programmes came to a standstill due to the war in Gaza.
