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Meet Karin Prien, the woman who could become Germany’s first Jewish president

JL;DR SUMMARY Karin Prien, a prominent German politician with Jewish ancestry, is considered a frontrunner for Germany's federal presidency in 2027. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CultureHolocaust SurvivorsGermanyLiberal DemocracyJewish AncestryGerman PoliticsKarin PrienCdu

Places mentioned

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
"Living in Amsterdam in the years after World War II, Karin Priens parents bookshelves were lined with the works of Jewish authors like Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and Isaac Bashevis Singer."
Neuwied, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
"When she was a young child and her family moved from the vibrant and multicultural city of Amsterdam to Neuwied, a small town in Rhineland, their Jewish social life dwindled."
Germany
"In Germany, her mother was afraid to publicly declare her Jewish roots in the country that perpetrated the Holocaust."
New York, United States
"Prien told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at a reception in New York this month."
Washington, D.C., Washington DC, United States
"(Following her New York visit, Prien headed to Washington, D.C., where she toured the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.)"
Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
"On her mothers side, Prien is the great-great-granddaughter of a prominent Düsseldorf merchant, Salomon Hartoch, the owner of the Hartoch department store whose descendants moved to the Netherlands in 1935 to escape persecution."
Prague, Prague, Hlavní mešto, Czechia
"On her fathers side, she is the granddaughter of a Jewish lawyer from Prague."
Israel
"Prien visited Israel for the first time in October, shortly after the final Israeli hostages taken by Hamas two years earlier were released."

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Retrieved 2026-03-25 05:30:53 UTC
Curated 2026-03-25 08:30:53 UTC