Felix Klein (diplomat)

Felix Klein (born January 25, 1968 in Darmstadt ) is a German lawyer and diplomat . He specializes in international law and has been the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism since 2018 .

Life

His father, Hans Klein, violinist in the Philharmonic Orchestra in Sibiu in the 1950s , had lived with his family in Darmstadt since 1967. His relatives include the journalist Fritz Klein and the historian Fritz Klein junior .

Felix Klein attended the United World College in Duino near Trieste . He added a master's degree at the London School of Economics to his law studies, which he completed from 1987 to 1992 at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg and the Free University of Berlin, and from 1994 to 1996 he completed training for the higher foreign service at the Bonn Education and training center of the Federal Foreign Office ("Diplomatenschule"). In 2001 he received his doctorate with the work "Marriage Law and Marriage reality in Cameroon" at the University of St. Gallen Dr. iur. In addition to German, he speaks French, English, Italian and Spanish.

He began his career at the Foreign Office in Bonn as a consultant for relations with the South American countries Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, then worked abroad as a legal and consular consultant in Yaounde / Cameroon and as the deputy consul general in Milan and has worked in the Foreign Ministry since 2007 himself: Consultant in the personnel department for senior civil servants in the Foreign Office in Berlin, Deputy Consul General and Consultant for Culture and Economy at the German Consulate General in Milan, Deputy Head of the Southeast European Department in the Foreign Office, Personal Consultant and Head of the Office of the State Secretary of the Foreign Office Peter Ammon and most recently Head of the senior civil service department in the Federal Foreign Office.

From March 2014, Klein was the special representative for relations with Jewish organizations and anti-Semitism issues at the Federal Foreign Office. In April 2017, experts and politicians came to the conclusion that the population lacked insight into the problem of anti-Semitism. When the introduction of the position of anti-Semitism officer was approved in January 2018 , the Central Council of Jews in Germany proposed Klein. His office is located in the Federal Ministry of the Interior . Klein wants to help make the problems of anti-Semitism more visible. He has been in office since May 2018.

As anti-Semitism officer, he has been running his own website since August 2020.

Debates

Klein's criticism of Achille Mbembe's planned appearance at the Ruhrtriennale 2020

After the invitation of the historian and political scientist Achille Mbembes as the opening speaker of the Ruhrtriennale 2020 and the accusation of anti-Semitic statements against him by Klein, a controversy arose . On April 30, 37 Jewish scholars and artists critical of Israel declared their solidarity with Mbembe and demanded that Klein be recalled from office. On May 1st, scholars from Germany and abroad who are active in the fields of the history of anti-Semitism and National Socialism, colonialism and racism in its various forms, and genocide research, launched an appeal entitled “Solidarity with Achille Mbembe ", Which accuses Mbembe's critics - including Klein - of a campaign that should disavow him" without evidence, with the help of manipulatively distorted quotations and content ".

Twelve Jewish or civil society organizations in Germany reacted immediately to the criticism against the Federal Commissioner. In an open letter to Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer , u. a. the Jewish community in Berlin, the Jewish sports association Makkabi Germany and the Amadeu Antonio Foundation for Felix Klein to remain as a representative of the federal government. Also Josef Schuster , the president of the Central Council, dismissed the charges against Felix Klein as "unjustified and unacceptable" back. The President of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) , Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt , said the debates missed "the real problem". This not only encourages anti-Semites, but "fatally" ignores the difficult situation in which Europe's Jews are currently. He expressed his solidarity with Felix Klein: "We Jews in Europe are grateful to have him by our side."

700 African intellectuals defended Mbembe against the allegations in a letter to Merkel and also called for the dismissal of Klein.

Private

Felix Klein is married to the actress Magdalene Artelt for the second time and has three children, two of whom are from his first marriage.

Web links

Interview with Felix Klein , Welt.de
Stephan Detjen : Anti-Semitism officer as discursive gatekeeper , Deutschlandfunk, May 23, 2020
Open letter from the Central Council of Jews in Germany to the Chancellor
“Overriding, but currently fashionable.” Michael Wolffsohn on the open letter from 60 “Israelites” , Felix Klein's work as an anti-Semitism officer and the freedom of those who think differently. In: juedische-allgemeine.de July 30, 2020.
Alan Posener: The blind spot of the left. With their false criticism of the anti-Semitism commissioner Felix Klein, 60 intellectuals are trying to ignore a friend of Israel. And measure with double standards. In: zeit.de July 31, 2020.
Ze'ev Avrahami: Felix Klein understood. Instead of fighting anti-Semitism, there are philosophical debates about what exactly it is. In: taz.de August 1, 2020.

Individual evidence

↑ Interview with Dr. Felix Klein , accessed on May 29, 2019

↑ "Anti-Semitism is not a problem for the Jews, but for society"

↑ BMI press release

↑ Martin Niewendick: Government Commissioner Klein: " Hatred of Jews also has an ugly Islamist face". In: Welt Online. April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 20, 2018 .