Knobloch's resignation prompts change for German Jews
Frankfurt (dpa) - The President of Germany′s Central Committee of Jews, Charlotte Knobloch, is to step down from her post when her current term ends in November, the directorate announced on Sunday.
Knobloch said she had decided not to seek a renewed term in office in order to "consciously bring about a generational change." The 77-year-old is one of the last German Jews belonging to a generation that experienced the Holocaust in person.
Munich-born Knobloch, whose grandmother died in Auschwitz concentration camp, survived the war hidden on a farm where she was passed off as the illegitimate child of a Catholic woman.
As one of the most prominent voices representing Germany′s Jews, Knobloch has not shied away from controversy, working tirelessly to keep alive the lessons of the Holocaust.
Last year, she stayed away from the Holocaust Day commemoration in the national parliament because, as a Holocaust survivor, she objected to being treated as one guest amongst many.
For many of the younger generation of German Jews, there is a growing feeling that it is time to define their identity by something more than the atrocities carried out in Nazi Germany.
Knobloch countered speculation that she had been pressured to give up her post ahead of time, and told journalists that the Committee′s senior members had given her their, "full, unlimited trust."
The successor to the first female president is likely to be the Committee′s current Vice-President Dieter Grauman, a Frankfurt businessman born in Israel in 1950, who moved to Germany with his parents before his second birthday.
The father of two is quick to speak out against anti-Semitism, Islamist fundamentalism and right-wing radicalism. However he has also stressed the importance of positive Jewish values, "otherwise we only know what we stand against, but not what for."
For this reason, Graumann has previously said that the Central Committee of Jews needs to focus on the spiritual strength of Judaism, as well as keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.
The Central Committee of Jews unites 107 communities representing roughly 106,000 Jews across Germany, just over half the country′s estimated Jewish population. dpa hm ds